


Silverclaw's choice

by animakyle_01



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Animal Death, Cats, Character Death, Clan battles, Clans, Grief, Love, Manipulation, Multi, battles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:49:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26158333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animakyle_01/pseuds/animakyle_01
Summary: Silverpaw is an eager Iceclan apprentice who wants more than anyone to protect his clan as a warrior at all costs, but when conflicts arise and dark secrets come to light, his destiny will be split and he will have to make a choice that might change his and his clan's life forever.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Allegiances

**WARNING**

This book isn’t suited for younger audiences, for it contains explicit language, animal fighting, descriptive gore (blood, wounds…) and death.

Read at your own risk. 

**ALLEGIANCES**

** ICECLAN **

**Leader:** Goldenstar: huge, muscular light golden tabby tom, with scarred fur, ripped ears and lots of scars all across his body. He has got amber eyes.

**Deputy :** Aspenclaw: skinny, muscular, white and black tom with unusually long, sharp claws and green eyes.

**Medicine cat:** Finchsong: sleek, thick-furred, light brown tabby she-cat, with a very long and bushy tail and dark brown markings on her face. She also has a light brown belly, long haired, dark paws and beautiful olive eyes.

Apprentice: Acornpaw

** Warriors: **

-Oakbreeze: tall, sleek, brown tom with green eyes.

Apprentice: Yarrowpaw

-Juniperfoot: small, gray she-cat with spiky fur on her paws and light golden eyes.

Apprentice: Darkpaw

-Lotusheart: big, muscular, long haired, white tom with light green eyes.

-Ebonypelt: black she-cat with long, scarred fur and beautiful yellow eyes.

-Larkflight: light brown tabby tom with dark brown eyes.

Apprentice: Smokepaw

-Sparrowfeather: light brown tabby tom with lots of scars, green eyes and three legs.

-Molenose: dark brown tabby, short haired tom with a long muzzle and pink nose.

-Snakeglare: light ginger tabby she-cat with penetrating amber eyes.

-Granateclaw: very dark ginger tom, with a white tail tip and chest, green eyes and a scar on his muzzle.

Apprentice: Silverpaw

-Doveshadow: dark gray, long haired she-cat with a long, fluffy tail, white belly and beautiful light blue eyes.

-Pineshine: tall, sleek, skinny, short haired, brown she-cat with olive eyes.

-Birchstripe: big, long haired, silver tabby she-cat with beautiful amber eyes.

-Rainmist: white, blue eyed, deaf she-cat.

** Apprentices: **

-Acornpaw: little brown chubby she-cat with dark patches of fur and amber eyes.

-Silverpaw: muscular, silver tabby tom with white belly, muzzle and paws and dark gray ears. He’s got light blue eyes.

-Yarrowpaw: tall, sleek, muscular, golden tabby tom with a light golden belly, tail tip, muzzle and his big paws. He has got light green eyes.

-Darkpaw: small, muscular, dark gray tom, with big white paws, muzzle and tail tip. He has got light blue eyes.

-Smokepaw: small, long, sleek tom with dark gray tabby short fur, light gray belly and blue eyes.

** Elders: **

-Embercloud: black she-cat with orange patches of fur and olive eyes.

-Mapleleaf: ginger tabby she-cat with light amber eyes.

** FEATHERCLAN **

**Leader:** Eaglestar: tall, sleek, muscular, calico she-cat with light green eyes.

 **Deputy:** Rabbitleap: white and orange tom with amber eyes.

 **Medicine cat:** Ravencry: black tom with light yellow eyes.

Apprentice: Nightpaw

** Warriors: **

-Pheasantfur: light brown tabby tom.

-Blossomleaf: long haired tortoishell she-cat with green eyes.

Apprentice: Flowerpaw

-Reedpelt: brown tabby tom with green-grayish eyes. Perchscale’s mate.

-Duckstep: ginger tabby tom with olive eyes.

-Rocksplash: white and gray she-cat with light blue eyes.

Apprentice: Fierypaw

-Dearpounce: light brown tabby she-cat.

-Robinfeather: orange tabby tom. Mossysky’s mate.

-Cootbeak: black tom with a white muzzle, paws and amber eyes.

-Sleetpelt: light gray tom with blue eyes.

-Swanfeather: white and black she-cat.

-Fallowspots: light orange and white she-cat with splotches along her back.

-Hawkflight: dark brown tabby tom with a white belly, paws and penetrating amber eyes.

-Jaynest: short haired, tabby gray she-cat.

-Cherviltail: white she-cat with a long, bushy tail.

-Tansystorm: golden tabby tom with light green eyes.

-Tigerfang: dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes and huge fangs.

Apprentice: Dawnpaw

** Apprentices: **

-Nightpaw: small, sleek black she-cat with golden eyes.

-Flowerpaw: white she-cat with brown markings on her back and beautiful light green eyes.

-Dawnpaw: light ginger tom with white paws, belly and light blue eyes.

-Burningpaw: chubby, light ginger tabby she-cat with a white belly and big, round, green eyes.

-Fierypaw: dark ginger tabby tom with amber eyes and white paws.

** Queens: **

-Mossysky: fluffy dark gray she-cat.

Kits:

-Brownkit: brown tabby male kit.

-Sharpkit: thin tortoishell she-kit.

-Beetlekit: big black male kit.

-Perchscale: tabby silver she-cat with amber eyes.

Kits:

-Blackkit: black male kit.

-Russetkit: gray she-kit.

-Breezekit: big silver tabby male kit.

-Mousekit: small gray male kit.

** Elders: **

-Lostsun: brown tabby tom with blind golden eyes.

-Quakestrike: dark brown tom.

-Nettlewhisker: tall and thin dark gray she-cat with amber eyes.

** FOGCLAN **

**Leader:** Lightstar: sleek, short haired white and grayish-brown tabby muscular tom with different colored eyes (left is olive green and right blue).

 **Deputy:** Scarface: sleek brown tabby tom with amber eyes and lots of scars in his face.

Apprentice: Heatherpaw

 **Medicine cat:** Amberflame: light ginger tabby tom with a white belly, furry ear tips and light green eyes.

Apprentice: Dillpaw

** Warriors: **

-Rockrose: cream she-cat with beautiful light green eyes.

-Featherflight: brown tabby tom with brown eyes.

-Gorseheart: cream she-cat with green eyes.

-Crowfoot: black and white tom with light yellow eyes and black paws.

Apprentice: Willowpaw

-Hollyberry: plump dark gray tom with a bright pink nose and amber eyes.

-Shadowmask: white and black tom with black markings in his face and green eyes.

-Asphodelberry: cream she-cat with short fur and copper eyes.

-Robinwing: dark gray she-cat with a white belly and ginger splotches along her fur.

-Auburnfur: muscular brown tabby tom with amber eyes. Hailwind’s mate.

-Duskfall: black and ginger tom with light orange eyes.

Apprentice: Littlepaw

-Specklepool: tortoishell she-cat with olive eyes.

-Brambletuft: brown tabby she-cat.

-Primroseleaf: white and cream she-cat with deep orange eyes.

-Stormwind: gray tabby tom with green eyes.

Apprentice: Icypaw

-Ivyflower: white shorthaired she-cat with golden eyes.

-Mistystep: long haired white she-cat with amber eyes.

-Snowypelt: long haired white and gray she-cat with light grayish-blue eyes.

-Rainpool: short haired gray siamese tom.

Apprentice: Splitpaw

-Dewfrost: white tom with deep blue eyes.

** Apprentices: **

-Dillpaw: ginger tabby tom with light yellow eyes and a white belly.

-Heatherpaw: slim grayish-brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes.

-Icypaw: white and brown tom with beautiful blue eyes.

-Littlepaw: small dappled golden tom with olive eyes.

-Willowpaw: long haired dark brown tabby she-cat with green eyes.

-Splitpaw: black and gray she-cat with a splitted coloured face (half gray, half black).

** Queens: **

-Hailwind: white and gray she-cat with light blue eyes.

Kits:

-Weaselkit: light brown tabby male kit.

-Troutkit: small silver she-kit.

** Elders: **

-Ebonyheart: black and white she-cat with light green eyes.

-Darkbranch: long, sleek black tom.

** CATS OUTSIDE THE CLANS **

-Shine: white female kittypet with gray and ginger splotches in her fur and green eyes.

-Thorn: white tom with black markings along his fur and deep blue eyes.

-Vanilla: long haired, big white she-cat with golden markings in her face and paws and light blue eyes.

-Duskfrost: long haired, light gray tabby tom with olive eyes. Former Featherclan warrior.


	2. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I hope you like my story! I'll try to upload a chapter weekly, every Friday, although I can't promise anything. Please enjoy!

Snow fell heavily from the sky and thunder could be heard all across the three clan’s territories. The wind made the branches in the trees feel only like small twigs, breaking some of them by its sheer force.

Meanwhile, in a camp, a queen was giving birth in the nursery, their medicine cat helping her.

“Keep pushing, the last kit is almost there!” The cat whispered to the queen.

After a painfully long wait, the final kit arrived, instantly beginning to meow in search for its mother.

“They’re so beautiful…” The queen said “If only their father could see them both…”

A ping of sadness flashed through the queen’s eyes.

“You know he’ll see them growing up every so often” The medicine cat reassured her.

“But it’s not the same!” The new mother cried out loud.

“I know, but you have to face the consequences of what you did. We both knew what would happen” And having said that, the cat that had helped her left to go to its own den.

The queen knew what she had to do now, for one of her newborns resembled its father way too much. Picking the kit up, she got out of the nursery quietly, trying not to be noticed by anyone, and ran out of the camp avoiding any cat that might have not been sleeping.

It was incredibly cold outside the warmth of the nursery, so the queen had to be quick and hope that her mate was already waiting for her in the border of the territory.

Her pace was fast and careful, as to not trip over the slippery ice-covered rocks or over hidden tree roots covered in snow. She could feel her pelt beginning to soak because of the heavy snow, making shivers go down her spine. But even under all the cold, the kit didn’t meow even once since they had left the camp.

Finally, after having run all the way from the camp to the border, she was finally there, a shadow waiting for her, also soaked to the bones.

“I thought you weren’t going to come.” The tom told the queen.

And without needing any more words, he picked up the kit by its scruff and looking to his mate one more time with sorrow in his eyes, he left. The queen’s face as he took their newly born was of pure sadness, imagining how happily they would have lived if only they were both living in her clan. But as soon as the thought came, it disappeared. She had left her other kitten inside the nursery alone and she had to rush back to at least take the best care of that kit, even if its littermate wasn’t along anymore. It was also dangerous to stay outside so long at night during a storm like that, because there had been constant avalanches the past few days and she didn’t want to risk being caught by one in the middle of the night, where no one could rescue her.

At the same time, inside the camp, the medicine cat that had helped the mother give birth to her first litter of kits was ready to go to sleep again until morning, but a sudden voice forced the cat to wake up.

“ _A new clan will be born from the blood and pain of the cold one. The cat who carries the stars in their pelt will be responsible and will run away, becoming a rogue and leader, never to be seen by its true clan again.”_

Running as fast as possible, the medicine cat went to warn their leader about the seemingly cruel and dark prophecy. After telling the prophecy, the leader seemed concerned.

“We have to keep our clan strong” The leader meowed. “We are not safe anymore.”

And just as the leader said that, the ground began shaking slightly, and a strong sound came from above the cave’s walls.

“Another avalanche… I wonder when they are going to stop. Last leafbare there weren’t as much, nor as strong as these ones”. The medicine cat commented worried.


	3. Chapter 1

“That’s not fair! You are way bigger than me!” Silverkit cried to another kitten, who was on top of him.

“Liar! I’m as big as you! You lost because you aren’t as good as me!” The other kit responded.

“Get off me, Yarrowkit! You already won anyway!” And with a small jump, Silverkit got back to his paws once again, his silver fur all dirty from the small pools of water near the entrance of the camp.

“Look at you, you are all dirty and wet, yuck!” Yarrowkit teased the other kit, but before he could say anything else, Silverkit threw himself on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

“Who’s the loser now?” He mocked him.

“Still you, we weren’t playing now and you caught me distracted!” He remarked.

“A fox doesn’t let you prepare when it attacks.” Silverkit laughed at him.

“Silverkit! Get off Yarrowkit this instant!” A loud meow could be heard from a few tail lengths away.

“Mom, we were just playing!” Silverkit complained, but his mother didn’t listen to his excuses.

“And look at the mess you both are! Come and let Snakeglare and I get you ready for the ceremony!”

“But we aren’t the ones who are going to be apprentices, Birchstripe! We still have a moon left!” Yarrowkit whined, as he walked alongside Silverkit and his mother to the nursery, where Snakeglare was waiting for them.

“Yarrowkit, Silverkit! What have you been doing?!” Snakeglare scolded both of the kits.

“We’ve been playing, mama…” Yarrowkit answered his mother, ashamed.

Both mothers began cleaning their kittens, even though neither of them liked being groomed and made a bit of a fuss about it. Just when they were both clean enough to assist the ceremony, Iceclan’s leader called the clan meeting.

“Let all Iceclan gather around the entrance of the leader’s den to assist a clan meeting!” The strong voice of Goldenstar echoed through the cave.

Yarrowkit and Silverkit ran out of the nursery immediately and full of excitement towards the end of the cave, where the leader’s den was located.

Both kittens were in owe as the whole clan gathered and sat next to them. It was the first time that they had been allowed in a clan meeting, due to their young age. The soon-to-be apprentices were already in front of their leader, more impatient even than the two kits, twitching their tails and shifting their paws constantly, and to the other side were two full grown cats, but instead of impatience, pride was seen shining from their eyes.

“These few moons have been very hard for our clan, but we must remain strong!” Goldenstar carried on. “After having lost two cats and one kit to the avalanches we are having a lack of warriors and apprentices, but today that will change! We are here all together to welcome as new warriors of Iceclan Oakpaw and Ebonypaw!” Both apprentices got a step closer to their clan leader.

“I, Goldenstar, leader of Iceclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn.” First, he turned to the dark brown tom. “Oakpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?”

“I do.” Oakpaw said excitedly.

“Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Oakpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Oakbreeze. StarClan honors your agility and courage, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Iceclan.”

As Goldenstar finished naming Oakbreeze, the whole clan bowed their heads slightly to welcome the new warrior. Goldenstar touched his nose with Oakbreeze’s forehead and in return the young warrior licked his shoulder. After having done that, Goldenstar turned to the black she-cat and said.

“Ebonypaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?”

“I do.” The she-cat responded.

“Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Ebonypaw, from this moment on you will be known as Ebonypelt. StarClan honors your strength and resilience. We all welcome you as a full warrior of Iceclan.” Again, the clan bowed their heads with respect and Ebonypelt did the same procedure as Oakbreeze.

“But not only are we welcoming two new warriors today. We also have two new apprentices! Come near, Smokekit and Darkkit.” Goldenstar meowed loudly.

Both gray kits came near their leader, trying to stay calm and collected.

“Smokekit and Darkkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Smokepaw and Darkpaw. Your mentors will be Larkflight and Molenose, respectively.” Now looking directly at the older warriors, Goldenstar said. “Larkflight and Molenose, you both are ready to take on apprentices. You have received an excellent training from Icystep and Slatetalon, who we have lost to the deep snows and that have mentored you as great and loyal Iceclan warriors. Larkflight, you will be the mentor of Smokepaw, and Molenose of Darkpaw. I expect you to pass on all you know to these apprentices.”

Both warriors came near each of their new apprentices and touched noses with them. The leader kept on talking. “Iceclan’s future seems brighter than ever! We must all stay together and grow as a clan and as warriors!” All cats from the clan, including Silverkit and Yarrowkit, howled loudly in response. “Iceclan is dismissed.” And bowing his head one last time, Goldenstar went back to his den while every other cat kept on doing their daily chores.

“Great Starclan, your dad is amazing!” Silverkit exclaimed excitedly to Yarrowkit, who seemed a bit overwhelmed.

“I can’t wait for our apprentice ceremony next moon!”

“Yeah! We will be the best warriors Iceclan has ever seen!” Yarrowkit yowled eagerly. “Who do you want to be your mentor?”

“I don’t really know, I haven’t thought about it. I just want to be mentored by a strong warrior who will teach me amazing fighting moves so I can defend Iceclan against the other clans!” Silverkit answered eagerly.

No one, not even Goldenstar, had thought much about the kittens becoming apprentices, and due to the lack of experienced warriors, there weren’t many cats prepared to mentor them. Things had been rough for Iceclan. Unlike the other two clans, Featherclan and Fogclan, Iceclan’s growth had suddenly stopped. A pair of warriors, who were also mates and were planning on having kits together, had died due to the increasing number of avalanches on Iceclan’s territory, even a kitten had died because of it, but no one wanted to remember it, mostly because of how hurt and devastated the mother of the kitten would be if anyone even mentioned it. The prey was also running scarce, and even if they had less mouths to feed than the others, the clan still suffered the consequences of hunger. If they kept losing cats, the clan would probably dissipate to nothingness in a matter of moons.


	4. Chapter 2

Silverkit and Yarrowkit were both playing outside in the snow, both of their pelts covered again in mud and snowflakes. However, they didn’t mind at all the cold nor the dampness of their fur, they were having a great time pretending to be warriors.

“I will be a warrior of Iceclan and you’ll be a Fogclan one!” Yarrowkit told Silverkit.

“I wanted to be the Iceclan warrior!” Silverkit complained.

“If you beat me in this fight, the next one I’ll be the Fogclan-” As soon as the other kit heard the first words, he had already jumped and pinned Yarrowkit to the ground.

“I win aga-!” But before he could claim victory, Yarrowkit pushed him with his hind legs and got up on his paws once more.

Without giving Silverkit a moment to think, Yarrowkit threw himself towards Silverkit in hopes that he could hit the other kitten with his front paws and knock him to the ground, with claws sheathed, of course, but Silverkit was faster and moved instinctively, ducking before Yarrowkit’s paw could make contact with his face and tackled the golden kit’s hind legs, making him stumble yet again to the wet ground.

“You cannot defeat me!” Silverkit yowled proudly while Yarrowkit was amazed by his friend’s agility.

“Where did you learn all of that? Have you been training without me knowing?!” Yarrowkit faked sadness as he said the last part.

“No! I swear I didn’t! I would never train without you! It just seemed like the right thing to do when you were going to hit me with your paws.” The silver kitten justified.

But what they didn’t know was that a cat had been hiding behind some rocks, watching their every move and analyzing what he would do next. After lots of thinking, the mystery cat decided to show himself to the dirty kits.

“Hello, Silverkit, Yarrowkit.” The dark brown tom bowed his head as in to greet the younger cats before him.

“Hello, Granateclaw!” Both kittens exclaimed excitedly seeing the warrior.

“I have been watching you fight, and I just wanted to congratulate you both on your battle skills, especially you, Silverkit. You’ll make fine warriors in the near future.” Granateclaw congratulated the kittens.

It wasn’t like him to go praising cats that he saw training or hunting, mostly because he usually kept to himself. But deep down, he had a feeling that both soon-to-be apprentices showed an extraordinary potential as warriors.

“Thank you, Granateclaw!” Yarrowkit said to the older cat.

“Could you teach us some battle moves? Pleeease?” Silverkit asked him, almost begging, eager to learn.

“No, you’re still kittens. And besides, you only have to wait a bit more before you are apprenticed. Next thing you know is you are next to Goldenpel-star receiving your new names and mentors.” Granateclaw corrected himself in the last second, but still refused to teach Silverkit and Yarrowkit.

“Please, Granateclaw!” Yarrowkit pressured the warrior.

“Yes, Granateclaw! And like you said, we only have less than a moon until we’re both apprentices, it wouldn’t hurt to know simple moves just to be more advanced, the clan needs strong warriors now more than ever!” Silverkit persuasively confronted Granateclaw, who was looking quite conflicted.

Finally, after a long pause Granateclaw decided what to do.

“Alright, I’ll teach you both one simple move. Only one! Not more!” The dark brown cat told both kits, who couldn’t hide their excitement.

“Yay!” Silverkit yowled, happy.

“Alright, Yarrowkit, position yourself in front of Silverkit.” Granateclaw asked the small, golden cat.

After Yarrowkit did as he was told, Granateclaw turned to Silverkit.

“Alright, as I’ve seen your fighting ability, you’ll be the first one to try it, watch closer.” He inquired. “Yarrowkit, come at me and attack me as if you were fighting with Silverkit.”

Yarrowkit threw himself at the experienced warrior, and as he did, Granateclaw swiftly ducked and rolled on his back, getting up to his paws in an instant.

“Yarrowkit, you can stop now. This is a simple defensive move called “duck and roll”. It is used to rapidly dodge an enemy’s attack and, if used correctly, it allows you to escape from your opponent if you are cornered and attack them by surprise once you are back on your paws.” He explained. “You can try it now, Silverkit. Yarrowkit, do the same as you’ve done when you tried to attack me.”

The golden kit positioned again, preparing to launch himself at Silverkit with all his might. However, the silver kitten was once again faster than his friend and ducked and rolled quickly, getting back to his paws, although not as fast as the warrior, almost losing his footing but regaining again his composure.

“That was great for your first time doing it! But you might want to be faster when rising to your feet or your enemy might have noticed what you were trying to do and be prepared for your next blow.” Granateclaw recommended Silverkit.

Silverkit tried once again, this time taking into account the advice that Granateclaw had given him, and executed the move almost perfectly.

He wasn’t going to say it, but he was clearly impressed by Silverkit’s ability on the battlefield. Even though he was just a kitten, he already showed signs of quick learning and swiftness performing new fighting moves. 

That reminded Granateclaw how hard it was for him when he was an apprentice to just do a simple move, for he had to work very hard to achieve what his clanmates could do in just a session of training. But he swallowed his pride and instead changed it for Silverkit’s, feeling immensely happy for the kitten.

“Now your turn, Yarrowkit.” He told the golden cat.

This time Silverkit was the one to lunch himself towards the other kit, but instead of ducking, Yarrowkit only rolled away slightly from Silverkit, not leaving enough distance between them, making Silverkit choose to move towards Yarrowkit because of the short space separating both of them and hit him with his front paws.

“Now Yarrowkit, you have to duck before you roll, and try rolling farther away, if you don’t you won’t leave enough distance between the other cat and you and it will happen what Silverkit just did, the opposing cat will lunch at you again and pin you to the ground.” Granateclaw explained to Yarrowkit, hiding the annoyance in his meow because of the kit's lack of attention.

After a few more attempts, Yarrowkit finally got the hang of the move and at the fifth time or so of doing it, he had almost mastered completely.

“Great job, both of you. I can’t wait until you become warriors so that we can all fight again between us some time.” Granateclaw said jokingly and turned away to keep hunting for the clan.

“Goodbye, Granateclaw! Thank you for teaching us a battle move!” Silverkit shouted at the leaving cat.

“Yeah, thank you so much!” Yarrowkit also thanked the warrior, and both of the kittens resumed their fighting game.

“This time I’m the Iceclan warrior!” Silverkit remembered and told excited Yarrowkit.

When the sun was lowering from the sky and after a long and tiring hunting and patrolling day, Granateclaw entered the camp with a clear objective in mind. He trotted calmly through the middle of the cave, greeting every cat that crossed his way. Finally, he reached the end of the long cave and sat at the entrance of the leader’s den. He knew he was inside, but he decided to wait until he let him in.

“Who is it?” Goldenstar’s deep meow resounded from inside his den.

“It is Granateclaw, Goldenpelt.” Granateclaw responded to his leader, referring to him not by his leader’s name, but by his warrior one.

“You may come in.” Granateclaw made his way into the smaller cave and settled down next to Goldenstar’s moss bed.

“How many times have I told you to call me Goldenstar?” The huge golden tom told the smaller dark brown one, slightly irritated.

“I have come to you with a request.” Granateclaw dodged his question and instead went straight to the point.

“And what may your request be, Granatepaw?” Goldenstar said, putting emphasis on Granateclaw’s apprentice name. The dark brown tom was obviously angry and annoyed at his leader's demeanor, but chose to say nothing instead, mostly because he had done the same.

“I would like to choose my own apprentice.” He commented.

It wasn’t common for a warrior to choose their own apprentice unless, of course, that it was the leader’s own apprentice, so the request obviously shook Goldenstar.

“And what makes you think that I’ll let you choose your own apprentice?” He questioned Granateclaw, curiosity and annoyance in his meow.

“There aren’t enough experienced warriors to train new apprentices, and the ones that are already have one. Besides, it’s better for the clan if you have mentors that are aware of their apprentice’s capacities, weaknesses and strengths.” He tried to convince Goldenstar.

The leader seemed to come to his senses once Granateclaw stated his point. He knew more than anyone that the clan was slowly losing capable warriors, either by making them retire early or because they were too young to be as strong and experienced as the other clans’ ones.

“Alright, I’ll make an exception with you.” Goldenstar finally made up his mind. Granateclaw released a breath he didn’t know was holding and relaxed his tense muscles. “Who do you want to mentor?”


	5. Chapter 3

Birchstripe and Snakeglare were viciously licking both of their kittens inside the nursery.

“Mom, stop! I can do it on my own!” Silverkit complained.

“Hush, Silverkit.” His mother quietted him down between licks.

Yarrowkit could also be heard wailing from only two tail lengths away at the other side of the nursery. Today was the day they had been waiting for, today was the day that they’ll finally be made apprentices. Their tails were twitching from excitement and they couldn’t be kept in one place for a second.

Suddenly, the most expected meow was heard echoing from the end of the cave.

“Let all Iceclan gather around the entrance of the leader’s den to assist a clan meeting!”

As soon as both kits heard their leader’s voice, they both rushed out of the nursery and made their way between cats that were already going towards the leader’s den, tripping along the way and stomping on a few tails and paws. However, no one said anything, because they knew how excited both kittens were of becoming apprentices, all of them had already experienced that feeling, after all.

Yarrowkit and Silverkit sat next to their leader, Yarrowkit at his father’s right and Silverkit at his leader’s left.

“Today we’re all reunited together again to receive these kits as new apprentices of this clan. Yarrowkit and Silverkit!”

Every cat meowed encouraging words to both soon-to-be apprentices, who were flustered to say the least by all the attention that their clan gave them.

“Yarrowkit and Silverkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Yarrowpaw and Silverpaw. Yarrowpaw, your mentor will be Oakbreeze.” Now looking directly at the most recent warrior he said: “I know your warrior ceremony was just a moon ago, but I’ve seen your skills and I believe you are prepared for the responsibility of having an apprentice. Treat Yarrowpaw well.”

And having said that, the leader’s son walked towards his mentor and touched noses with him. As he did that, all clan cats yowled his new name in sync. 

“Yarrowpaw! Yarrowpaw! Yarrowpaw!”

Goldenstar directed his gaze now towards Silverpaw.

“Silverpaw, your mentor will be…” The leader hesitated for a brief moment, and as he did, a pair of eyes from the crowd looked at him menacingly. “Granateclaw.” Goldenstar meowed loudly. “You are one of our best warriors and I hope you teach all you know to Silverpaw.”

Silverpaw couldn’t believe his eyes. He instantly ran towards his now mentor and touched noses with him. The new apprentice could see his mentor’s eyes fill with pride instead of anger that, even though he didn’t notice it was there.

“Our clan is finally growing! I hope I can see both of these cats become great new warriors in the upcoming moons. Iceclan is dismissed.” And having said that, Goldenstar retrieved to his den once again.

"Look at us, Silverpaw! We're apprentices now!" Yarrowpaw exclaimed. 

"I know! I'm so glad Goldenstar chose Granateclaw to be my mentor, I'm going to be the best fighter in all of the clans!" Silverman responded excitedly. 

“Come on, Yarrowpaw, Silverpaw. Granateclaw and I are going to show you Iceclan’s territory.” Oakbreeze approached both apprentices, Granateclaw right behind him.

The two apprentices and both warriors exited the cave. Luckily for all of them, that night didn’t snow and the sun was shining brightly, melting the ice on the ground and making way for the oncoming newleaf.

As soon as they stepped out of the camp, Silverpaw and Yarrowpaw began running around, playing with rocks and leaves on the ground.

“Quit playing and follow us. I wouldn’t like to repeat myself just because you haven’t been paying attention.” Granateclaw demanded.

“Sorry, Granateclaw.” Both cats apologized, lowering their heads ashamed.

Once they stopped, the four cats kept on walking to the left side of the camp along the borders with the unowned territory.

“These are the borders that separate us from the rogues and loners’ territory. You mustn't go beyond this point onwards, right behind our camp, unless told otherwise.” Oakbreeze explained.

“And what if we do?” Yarrowpaw questioned his mentor.

“Well, let's just say that we don’t take responsibility for your actions and what might happen to you if you do.” Granateclaw responded instead.

Yarrowpaw gulped, scared by the warrior’s answer.

“But of course, nothing bad will happen if you don’t trespass any of the borders.” Oakbreeze reassured him.

The group of cats proceeded their tour around the territory, this time in direction to the border with Featherclan.

“Can you smell anything new or strange?” Oakbreeze said to the apprentices.

Yarrowpaw and Silverpaw sniffed around, trying to catch any smell different from what they were used to perceive on their own territory.

“I can smell pine trees!” Yarrowpaw exclaimed.

“Yeah, but there’s also something more… It smells musky, different.” Silverpaw added.

“Both of you are correct. The change of the smells means we’re getting near Featherclan’s territory, we’re just next to the border. You also have to always remember not to cross one, you could get into an unwanted fight with the other clan if you do!” Oakbreeze also warned them.

The group of cats got near the invisible line that divided both clan’s territories, where a small stream of water was also located. All of them sat down and took a few licks from the icy cold water.

Moving their ears, both mentors noticed rumbling grass and meows coming near them, signaling that a Featherclan patrol was just about to walk across them.

“Featherclan warriors are coming near, don’t cause any trouble and by the love of Starclan, don’t cross the border.” Granateclaw warned the apprentices, whispering.

And as soon as he said that, three warriors and a smaller cat appeared from behind some bushes.

“Greetings Oakbreeze, Granateclaw.” A white and orange tom greeted the Iceclan warriors, bowing his head as he did so. “What brings you near Featherclan’s border? Do you have any message you wish to communicate to Eaglestar?”

“No, we don’t, Rabbitleap. We came here to show our newest apprentices the clans’ borders.” Oakbreeze explained calmly.

“That’s why I couldn’t recall their faces. What are your names, young ones?” He asked, this time directing himself towards Silverpaw and Yarrowpaw, who didn’t know what to do.

Oakbreeze nudged both apprentices with his paw.

“My name is Yarrowpaw, and this is my friend Silverpaw!” The small golden cat responded.

“Those apprentices look so scrawny and frail, no wonder Iceclan is becoming weaker…” A white and black she-cat murmured to her clanmate, unaware that the Iceclan warrior had heard her.

“Hush, Swanfeather, you’ll get us into problems.” Blossomleaf, the other Featherclan she-cat tried to silence her.

Granateclaw’s fur was already rising and Silverpaw and Yarrowpaw were shifting their paws uncomfortably. Meanwhile, Oakbreeze was trying to keep his cool and was rising to his paws, ready to continue the tour around the borders.

“Why should I shut up? It’s true! Honestly, I don’t know why Eaglestar hasn’t tried to take territory from Iceclan, they certainly can’t defend it and we need it more than ever!” Swanfeather commented louder this time, so if no cat had heard her now they had.

“Enough, Swanfeather, you’re acting like a kit!” Rabbitleap reprimanded the she-cat.

“You should keep your warriors in place, Rabbitleap, you can get into a lot of trouble the next time something like this happens, keep that in mind.” Granateclaw threatened Featherclan’s deputy. “Come on, we have a lot of territory yet to walk.” The dark brown tom signaled the rest of his clanmates to follow him with his tail and the four of them took off towards the direction the stream flowed.

“What was that all about?” Yarrowpaw asked, still taken aback by the hostility of the other clan’s warrior. 

“Sometimes other clans like to be mean to us Iceclan because they see us as a lesser clan than them-”

“They’re no longer kittens, Oakbreeze, don’t talk to them like they are.” Granateclaw cut off the other warrior. “They think that because we have fewer cats than them that gives them the right to try and take what’s ours.” He explained without the childish tone that Oakbreeze had while talking to the apprentices.

“I-I’m not scrawny and weak, am I Granateclaw?” Silverpaw asked his mentor, insecure about himself.

Granateclaw’s expression softened a bit, and looking at his apprentice he told him:

“No you’re not, Silverpaw. When you become a warrior you’ll be ten times stronger than that stupid Featherclan warrior and then you’ll be the one laughing at her”.

“Honestly, I don’t know what got into Swanfeather’s nest today, picking on two small apprentices! I hope she feels good about herself.” Oakbreeze murmured angrily into Granateclaw’s ear without the young cats noticing.

They kept on walking through the trees along the bottom of the mountain where Iceclan’s camp was located. The cold breeze of leafbare ruffled the cats’ fur, making Oakbreeze shiver a bit because of his short pelt, however that didn’t make him stop and they trotted until the group arrived at a huge, tall rock. Both warriors crossed the small stream separating them from the clearing, their apprentices following close behind them.

“This is the great pinnacle.” Oakbreeze explained. “The three clans reunite here every full moon for the gathering. The medicine cats and their apprentices also come to talk to meet Starclan every half moon.”

“It is the only piece of land in the clans’ territory that doesn’t belong to anyone but Starclan.” Granateclaw continued. “Leader’s also come here to receive their nine lives.”

“Wow, it's huge!” Yarrowpaw exclaimed, already forgetting what had happened in the border with Featherclan.

“It certainly is. Who knows, maybe this full moon Goldenstar lets you both come to the Gathering.” Oakbreeze mentioned.

“Will he?” Silverpaw questioned, curious.

“If you both behave and show that you are mature enough to come, I’m sure he will.” Granateclaw reassured the silver cat. “But until then, we have to keep walking if we want to arrive to camp before sundown.”

And they all did as he said. They kept on travelling across the small forest until the smell changed, yet again.

“It’s damper here.” Yarrowpaw noticed.

“That’s because we arrived at Fogclan’s border!” Oakbreeze told him.

“Now, you both want to watch out. Fogclan cats are more hostile than Featherclan’s. If you encounter one, just ignore them, unless they have something to say or need to be escorted to camp. If you manage to see one crossing our border, you are more than allowed to claw their ears off.” Granateclaw warned them.

Luckily for the apprentices, no Fogclan patrol was seen walking near the border, so they could return safely to their camp from the other side that they had walked off.

Once the entrance of the cave could be seen, Yarrowpaw rushed back inside, shouting at Silverpaw. “The last one to get into our den is a mousebrain!”

Instead of complaining, Silverpaw tried to catch up to Yarrowpaw, and even though when he started Yarrowpaw was already a tail length away, he caught up at the end, winning their race.

“I would have told you that it wasn’t fair that you began before me.” Silverpaw told Yarrowpaw, panting from all the effort. “But I won, so it doesn’t matter.” Yarrowpaw laughed at his friend’s comment.

“Do you want to share a magpie? I saw a huge one in the fresh kill pile and I’m starving!” The golden cat said.

“Sure thing!” His friend responded.

After eating the bird, they both went to their dens to sleep, thinking of what they would do the next sunrise and excited about officially beginning their warrior training.


	6. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone reading this! I hope you're liking the book so far, and thanks so much for your support!   
> This chapter is a bit long compared to the other ones, enjoy!

“Wake up, sleepy owl! We have to go training!” Yarrowpaw’s loud meow awoke Silverpaw from his sleep.

“Can you lower your voice a bit? Darkpaw and Smokepaw are sleeping.” He hushed the eager golden cat.

“Ups, sorry. But get ready quickly, Oakbreeze and Granateclaw are already waiting for us outside!” And as he said that, he rushed out of the apprentices den as fast as he had come.

Silverpaw got up to his paws, stretching and yawning, while trying to get out of the den as quietly as possible without stepping on the other two sleeping apprentices. When he got out of the smaller cave, a rush of cold wind ruffled his fur.

“It’s probably going to snow again.” He said to himself while walking towards where Yarrrowpaw was waiting for him.

“Took you long enough!”

Silverpaw laughed at his impatience. Granateclaw approached both apprentices with Oakbreeze following by his side.

“Come on, both of you, we have to get going. It might start snowing any time soon and we don’t have all morning to train.”

None of them exchanged any more words and instead exited the cave, being careful as to not trip with the slippery stones and moss on the ground. They walked the opposite side they did the day before, jumping between rocks and stepping on the few fallen leaves that were on their path until the four cats arrived at a smaller clearing than the one where the Great pinnacle was located. It was full of grass and surrounded by a few bushes that were covered in frozen morning dew.

As soon as Silverpaw saw the clearing he thought about the training session they had as kits with Granateclaw.

“Are we going to learn more battle moves?” He squealed, eagerly.

“More? But we haven’t taught you any yet-” Oakbreeze was interrupted by Granateclaw talking.

“No, today you’re going to learn the basics of hunting and once you fully have the grasp of that you’ll learn how to fight.”

Silverpaw and Yarrowpaw looked disappointed but excited nonetheless.

“First, you have to know what your prey is and where it is located. This is the easiest part of hunting because you only need to search your surroundings for a sound or a smell.” Granateclaw continued explaining. “Right now there won’t be any prey nearby. They would have hidden inside their burrows or nests, but we’ll move to a more enclosed area where the prey is.”

“Once you know where your prey is, you should know how they’ll react to you approaching. If it is a mouse you’re going for, it will probably smell you before it hears you, so you have to make sure you’re trying to catch it against the wind, or your scent will be brought to the mouse.” Oakbreeze said. “Birds on the other paw will hear you, so you’ll have to be as stealthy as possible, laying low, controlling your balance and trying not to step on a twig or crunchy leaf. Now, watch as I demonstrate both of you how you should approach prey.”

Oakbreeze laid down, his belly touching the ground and his paws strategically placed, while he also lowered his tail to not be seen.

“Pretend that leaf over there is a mouse, you should walk very slowly, paw by paw, until you are at a pounce distance where you can catch it.” He explained, while getting nearer to the leaf, and finally ending his explanation with a jump, landing just on where he wanted.

“Now we’ll accompany you to a place where you can properly hunt, Oakbreeze and Yarrowpaw will go more towards Featherclan’s border and Silverpaw and I will go towards the Fogclan’s one.” Granateclaw meowed, signalling Silverpaw with his tail to follow him as Yarrowpaw and Oakbreeze disappeared behind the bushes of the clearing, going the opposite side they were. 

They both walked silently until they arrived at a place with a few trees and different kinds of plants. The stream could also be heard from their hunting spot but was barely noticeable, due to that part being the most narrow of it all.

“I’ll be watching you from behind those trees. Remember, try to not make noise, and don’t worry if you can’t catch anything, it’s your first time trying, after all.”

_ I will not fail Granateclaw, I’ll catch the best piece of prey in all of Iceclan’s territory! _ Silverpaw said to himself, while sniffing the air for any sign of small rodents or birds.

After only a few moments, he heard a ruffling sound near the bottom of a tree. A tiny ginger head suddenly emerged from between the tree’s roots, looking for nuts and seeds on the ground. As soon as Silverpaw noticed the presence of the small animal, he crouched down and slowly tried to make his way towards the squirrel.

_ Paw by paw, being careful to not step on a twig or leaf. _ Silverpaw thought, while looking at his paws. Each step he took, the closer the squirrel was, although it was getting farther from the tree and getting nearer the bushes surrounding the small stream of water.

However, while he was watching his steps, the squirrel saw him and broke into a run. Silverpaw didn’t waste a moment and also ran after his prey, getting closer by each stride.

_ I almost got you! _ The silver cat was panting but didn’t give up, he kept running and running, until he saw a nearby tree where the squirrel was going to hide.

_ If I let it get near it, I won’t have enough time to catch it and it’ll flee! _

Silverpaw tried to make a sprint for it, but it was too late and the squirrel was faster, climbing into the tree with its cheeks stuffed with seeds and nuts.

“Foxdung! I almost caught it!” He yowled in frustration, but it didn’t last too long because the loud meow of his mentor shook him out of his pelt.

“SILVERPAW! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING OVER FOGCLAN’S TERRITORY!?” Granateclaw screamed from the other side of the border lots of tails length away.

Silverpaw suddenly realised what he had done. While being focused on the squirrel running away from him, he didn’t notice that he had crossed the border with Fogclan and now was deep enough inside their territory that he had to squint his eyes to see his mentor all the way across in Iceclan’s territory.

“COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!” Granateclaw demanded.

Scared, Silverpaw ran even faster than when he tried catching the evasive squirrel and was at Iceclan’s side of the border in just a moment.

“Hide behind the bushes, quickly! Maybe you’ve been lucky enough that no one has seen you crossing.” Granateclaw indicated his apprentice, hiding following behind him into the denser part of the trees.

Once they were out of sight, Silverpaw prepared himself for what was coming to him.

“What were you thinking?” His mentor hissed. “Crossing… the Fogclan... border.” Granateclaw struggled to get words out, mostly because of the rage he felt inside.

“I… did it without thinking-” Silverapw tried explaining but the dark tom interrupted him.

“Of course you did it without thinking! Who on their sane mind would do it on purpose!?”

“I was chasing a squirrel and I didn’t look at where I was looking, ok?”

“Don’t use that tone with me, young cat.” Granateclaw snarled. Silverpaw lowered his head and ears, ashamed.

“I’m truly sorry, Granateclaw… Really, I am, I could have got Iceclan into a lot of trouble.” The silver apprentice apologized. “You won’t tell Goldenstar, will you?” He asked, worried.

Much to his surprise, Granateclaw laughed and scoffed.

“No, I will not. That flea brain wouldn’t even probably know the proper way to teach you how to not do it again, he’d tell you to pick the elder’s ticks for a moon, and what good would that do to you or your training?” He reasoned, paused for a moment thinking and then continued. “No, you’ll have extra training added to the one you already do with Yarrowpaw. I’ll teach you how to hunt properly and until I see that you’ve improved you won’t stop attending it, do you understand?”

“Yes, Granateclaw, I do.” Silverpaw said with relief in his meow.

“Good, then come, we have to search for your friend and Oakbreeze so we can bring these pieces of prey to the clan.”

“I haven’t caught anything, they’ll probably think I’m of no use to the clan…” Silverpaw thought out loud, crushed by the weight of his guilt.

“Yes, you have. Look, you hid it right there!” Granateclaw told him, signaling to a spot where a furless tail could be seen under a few leaves and moss. The tom grabbed the dangling mouse and gave it to Silverpaw, who couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Come on! They’re probably wondering where we are!” And without letting him say a word, Granateclaw trotted with Silverpaw at his heels where the other apprentice and his mentor were hunting.

Halfway through the trees, they bumped on the golden young cat and the other dark brown tom.

“Finally! What took you so long? We were already going to search for both of you in case a fox had caught you instead!” Oakbreeze joked, while Yarrowpaw opened his mouth as wide as he could.

“Wow, Silverpaw! You caught that all by yourself?” Yarrowpaw exclaimed at the sight of the plump mouse that the silver cat had in his mouth.

“Yeah, he did. You should have seen him pouncing and landing just on the mouse, it didn’t even realise what had happened by the moment he had killed it!” Granateclaw covered him.

Silverpaw truly couldn’t understand why was Granateclaw lying for him, when just a moments ago he had been screaming and scolding him for crossing the border, but he shook it off and went along the three other cats towards the camp.

Silverpaw could feel the ice cold wind ruffling his pelt and making him sneeze, it would be a very cold night but luckily he could spend it inside the cave, resting on his cozy nest.

“So, are you excited for your first Gathering tonight?” Oakbreeze asked the apprentices.

Silverpaw froze in his place. He had completely forgotten that tonight was full moon, and after all that had happened he didn’t even expect to go.

“Yes! There are going to be so many cats there and we may even befriend some of them! Aren’t you nervous, Silverpaw?” Yarrowpaw exclaimed.

“Yeah, I guess…” The other cat responded with the mouse in his mouth, not too pumped about it.

Yarrowpaw noticed the uneasiness in his friend’s meow but didn’t pay it any attention. After all, Silverpaw wasn’t much for interacting with other cats and prefered to keep to himself, he absolutely wasn’t comfortable with having that many cats around him.

When they arrived at the entrance of the camp, it was already sunhigh. Once they entered, some cats turned the head to see who they were, and when they noticed the newest apprentice holding prey in their mouth they got near them to congratulate both cats.

“Hey, congrats on catching your first piece of prey, both of you!” Darkpaw told them

“That mouse is huge!” Smokepaw exclaimed.

“If you keep hunting like that the clan won’t be hungry anymore!” Doveshadow praised them.

Hearing the commotion, Birchstripe exited the warriors den and when she realised what was happening she instantly joined the compliments.

“Did they behave correctly, Granateclaw? You didn’t have to scold them, did you?” The she-cat joked.

“No, on the contrary, they were very well behaved and caught their prey on the first try!” Granateclaw responded, happy.

“Well then that’s great! Then they surely deserve a break, don’t they?” Birchstripe suggested.

“Of course they do, come on Yarrowpaw, go leave your vole in the fresh kill pile and you can both share Silverpaw’s mouse. You’re dismissed to do whatever you want until the Gathering.” Oakbreeze told them.

Yarrowpaw happily went to the pile and left his prey there for other cats to eat while Silverpaw walked towards the entrance of the apprentices den and took the first bite of the plump mouse. After Yarrowpaw left the vole he sat beside Silverpaw to eat the furry rodent.

“So, where did you find the mouse? Where we went we could barely see any prey around, muc less one this big!” Yarrowpaw tried to start a conversation with his friend.

“Umm, well, it was near the Fogclan border, where the trees are denser. It was searching for food between the roots of a tree and I just happened to spot it and well, you can see where it is now!” Silverpaw lied, convincingly.

“That’s so lucky! I wish I could have caught something bigger than that vole.” He exclaimed.

“I bet next time you’ll catch a hawk!” Silverpaw encouraged him.

“I wish! Can you imagine bringing that to camp? Everyone would go crazy!”

When they finished their shared prey, they decided to sleep for the rest of the afternoon until it was time for the Gathering.

“Come on, wake up! You wouldn’t want to miss your first Gathering, would you?” Smokepaw’s yowls woke Yarrowpaw and Silverpaw up.

“Ugh, this is the second time today I’ve been woken up to someone shouting, could you please quiet down a little? I think my head is going to explode!” Silverpaw jokingly complained, but quickly got up to his feet and left the den to find practically all of Iceclan waiting for their leader, talking to each other.

Finally, Goldenstar approached his clan and meowed.

“Are the chosen cats ready to go to the Gathering?”

All said cats yowled in response to their leader, Yarrowpaw and Silverpaw included.

“Well then, let’s get going.” And without needing to say anything else, Goldenstar led the way towards the Great pinnacle. 

Yarrowpaw couldn’t contain his excitement and everyone around him could notice. He didn’t stop shifting his paws, jumpking up and down and twitching his tail constantly.

“I can’t believe we’re really going to our first ever Gathering!” He said.

“We know that, Yarrowpaw.” Darkpaw told him, smiling. “But don’t be disappointed if the other clan’s apprentices are cold and reserved towards you, after all you are an Iceclan cat and they’re not” He warned him, but that didn’t stop the young cat from feeling any less happy.

The group of cats crossed through their territory without much trouble or inconvenience, except for the cold wind that was constantly shaking the trees and the occasional slip of a clumsy cat. Finally, they arrived at the Great pinnacle.

Yarrowpaw gasped at the sight of the enormous rock, even though he had already seen it when they had both gone on tour around the borders and their territory. Fogclan cats were waiting, scattered throughout the clearing, talking to each other. There were small groups made by the same clan in which some senior warriors were relaxing near the trees while the apprentices were running around playing.

“Quick, Silverpaw, let’s meet the Fogclan cats!” Yarrowpaw exclaimed and ran towards the place where the other clan apprentices were joking and laughing. Silverpaw didn’t have much of a choice but to follow his clanmate.

“Hello! I’m Yarrowpaw, and this here is my friend Silverpaw! We’re Iceclan apprentices and this is our first Gathering here!”

At first, all of the Fogclan apprentices stared at him, uncomfortable, but quickly started introducing themselves.

“Well, my name is Icypaw and these cats right here are Littlepaw, Heatherpaw, Willowpaw and Splitpaw.” A white blue eyed tom answered him, naming and signalling at a dappled golden tom, a grayish-brown tabby she-cat, a dark brown tabby she- cat and at the end another she-cat with black and gray fur and a splitted coloured face.

“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you.” Silverpaw said awkwardly. Without warning, he felt a tail touch his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, it’s also my first Gathering here. You don’t need to be so nervous.” The one who he thought was called Splitpaw said, reassuring him. She unexpectedly got near him and said out loud. “Now you’re it!”

Silverpaw didn’t understand what had happened until all the cats that were a moment before surrounding him ran away as fast as possible and that’s when Silverpaw comprehended that they were playing tag.

Without wasting a heartbeat, he ran towards the cat nearer from him, who happened to be Littlepaw and touched the tip of his tail with his white paw.

“You’re it!”

Littlepaw now was the one running towards another Fogclan cat, trying to catch her. Once he did, the dark tabby cat was directing herself towards Silverpaw again, who was caught distracted, so instead of fleeing, he stood in his place, unaware of the she-cat going full speed at him and ultimately colliding with him, falling both of them to the ground.

As Heatherpaw was on top of Silverpaw, he suddenly felt that he had seen the Fogclan apprentice before, although it was obviously impossible, so he just shook it off, rose to his paws and licked his now muddy fur.

While they were all playing, Featherclan had arrived and now all the three leaders were standing at the highest point of the Great pinnacle, the Gathering about to start.

“Cats of all three Clans, pay attention, the Gathering is starting!” Eaglestar loudly meowed, sitting between Goldenstar, who was at her right and Lightstar at her left.

Every cat in the clearing turned their attention towards the leader.

“Who may begin tonight’s Gathering?” Goldenstar asked politely.

“I will, if you don’t mind.” Eaglestar responded. “Prey is running well in Feathterclan’s territory, we must thank Starclan for making this leafbare easy on us. We also have an announcement to make, Mossysky and Perchscale both have given birth to three and four beautiful and healthy kits since last Gathering. Featherclan is growing and we could not be better.”

All the cats in the Gathering, specially the Featherclan ones, meowed loudly congratulating Featherclan. After all the noise died down, it was Lightstar’s turn to talk.

“Prey is also abundant in Fogclan’s territory, and we also have a new apprentice, Splitpaw!”

The group of cats again yowled together, but this time saying Splitpaw’s name over and over. The gray and black she-cat was puffing her chest proudly but at the same time was also a bit overwhelmed.

_ I really hope that they don’t do that to us as well. _ Silverpaw thought.

“I would like to congratulate both of your clans.” Goldenstar said, bowing his head and kept talking. “And we also have two new apprentices! Yarrowpaw and Silverpaw!”

Much to Silverpaw’s dismay, all three clans started howling their names. Yarrowpaw seemed to be enjoying all the attention he was receiving, but on the other hand Silverpaw wished that the earth could swallow him that instant, his pelt growing hot from the embarrassment.

“Come on, Silverpaw. They’re cheering for you!” Yarrowpaw whispered into his ear. This helped the silver cat a bit, but it wasn’t long until Goldenstar kept talking.

“Prey is also running well in Iceclan, it truly is a one of a kind leafbare to us too.” And although that was kind of a lie, they couldn’t let the other clans see that they were weaker than them.

“If you have nothing else to say, I believe tonight’s Gathering is over-” Goldenstar said, but Lightstar’s calm meow cut him off.

“Don’t rush yourself, Goldenstar,  _ I _ have something else to say.” Goldenstar looked confused at the hostility in Lightstar’s words, but he let him continue. “This morning one of my border patrols has picked the scent of an Iceclan cat tail lengths deep into our territory. I would like to hear an explanation as to what may an Iceclan cat be doing inside our side of the border if prey is running as well as you say in yours, Goldenstar.” The Fogclan leader hissed.

“I-I truly have no idea what you are talking about, Lightstar.” Goldenstar responded, perplexed.

“Well, I think I know. I bet one of your warriors thought that it was a good idea to steal prey from our territory and that we would be dumb enough to not notice, is that right?”

Silverpaw’s colour drained from his face.

“Silverpaw, are you okay?” Yarrowpaw asked softly. Splitface was also by his side, looking very worried at him.

He started feeling sick and lightheaded about what he was hearing.  _ Will I be the cause of a battle between clans just because of my dumb mistake? _ He was the most scared that he’d been in his short life.  _ I bet that when everyone knows it was me they’ll kick me out of Iceclan to live by myself as an exiled. _

But when all hope was lost for him, he again heard his mentor’s voice loudly from the crowd, making his way towards the front, where the deputies and medicine cats were sitting.

“Well, if you had marked your borders correctly I may haven’t stepped over your stupid border!” Granateclaw screamed at the Fogclan’s leader.

“And who are you to tell me that our border wasn’t marked well enough if you say you were the one to cross it in the first place!?” Now Lightstar was looking directly at the dark brown warrior, his pelt clearly rising.

“I am Granateclaw, warrior from Iceclan. I’ve seen your warriors when they pass to mark the borders and I can tell you they don’t even know what they should be doing.”

Lightstar quickly jumped from the tall rock and landed just in front of Granateclaw.

“Are you telling me that Fogclan’s warriors are useless  _ and _ stupid?” His voice barely more than a whisper. All of Fogclan was already rising, some of them even eyeing Iceclan’s warriors, almost ready to pounce into battle.

“Yes, I am.” Granateclaw responded firmly, while his tail was moving from side to side.

Lightstar had had enough and swiftly striked at Granateclaw’s face with his front claw. The Iceclan warrior quickly dodged the blow, but it still made contact with his muzzle, which began to bleed.

Before he could launch himself at the leader, Eaglestar and Goldenstar were already down from the Great pinnacle and trotted between the two toms to restrain them from battling any more.

“I believe this Gathering was over a while ago. Each clan must retreat to their own territory immediately before things get any worse. I hope that Iceclan and Fogclan can fix this problem before the next Gathering or there won’t be one until you do.” Eaglestar demanded, and with a flick of her tail, Featherclan was already exiting the clearing towards their own camp.

“Iceclan, let’s go home!” Goldenstar meowed very loudly, making himself heard across the clearing.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t talk a bit more, we’ll meet next Gathering, right?” Splitface asked Yarrowpaw and Silverpaw.

“Sure thing, when everything dies down we’ll be here again next moon!” Yarrowpaw responded for both of them, for Silverpaw was yet shaken from what had happened.

Meanwhile, Goldenstar was walking fast, almost running, towards the camp, with Granateclaw at his heels.

“I expect an explanation for all of this, Granateclaw. Come to my den as soon as Finchsong has fixed that wound.” He ordered, referring to the gash that Lightstar had given him.

“Yes, Goldenstar.” The warrior answered, nervous about where his actions would lead him this time.


	7. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Hope you are enjoying the story so far. Here's another kinda long chapter! I'll probably try writing all the chapters as long as these ones although I can't promise anything! I'll also might not follow my uploading dates (every Friday) as much because school started for me a while back and I might not be able to write as often as before, but I'll try to upload chapters at least once every two weeks, but I don't think they'll take that long anyway.  
> Please enjoy the chapter!

Granateclaw rushed inside the camp, just after Goldenstar, and took a left inside the cave to enter an even smaller one, where the dampness of outside and the frozen winds couldn’t reach. Once he did, a huge aroma of flowers and plants hit him in the face, and he could see in the small gaps and holes of the walls leaves and flowers neatly placed. He sat down, waiting for the medicine cat to arrive.

 _It hasn’t changed one bit since the last time I’ve been here._ The warrior thought, analyzing the place. It wasn’t long before he heard steps coming his way and inside the small cave.

“I thought you wouldn’t have come yet!” Finchsong, the Iceclan medicine cat exclaimed.

“I’m kinda in a rush, if you can fix it as soon as you can I would appreciate it.” He said, impatient.

“Well, rushing can’t heal your wound better than if you do it slowly and with care, don’t you think? Acornpaw, dear, be a sweetheart and fetch me some cobwebs from the inside, they’re in one of the right gaps.” The thick furred she-cat asked her apprentice, who had just come in too. “Now, now, that’s gonna leave a nasty scar. Please, Acornpaw, also grab me a few leaves of chervil and dock!” She meowed to her apprentice at the other side of the cave.

“Ok, Finchsong!” Acornpaw answered.

“I don’t really care about having a scar. Honestly, Eaglestar and Goldenstar shouldn’t have intervened so I could have given that Fogclan scum what he deserves.” Granateclaw said, furious.

While he was talking, Acornpaw had brought all what Finchsong had asked her and was already chewing the leaves and mixing a pulp with both of them. Once she did so, she spreaded it along the cobweb and gave it to Finchsong, along with a bit of pulp in a separate leaf.

“Thanks, Acornpaw. Now this might sting a bit.” The tabby cat warned as she picked the pulp with her paw and put a bit gently into Granateclaw’s wound. Even though it was certainly painful, he didn’t flinch a bit, nor he complained about it. Then Finchsong grabbed the cobweb and put it onto the cat, pressing it a bit so it wouldn’t come off.

“Now, you should try to keep it on all night and tomorrow morning come here so I can replace it again. The chervil is for the infection, just in case, and the dock should ease the pain. If you feel any of those symptoms or you just feel unwell, don’t be afraid to come whenever you need to, alright?” She told him. “Well then, you are all set! Try to keep fighting with other clan cats to the minimum, okay?” Finchsong warned him again.

“I’ll try. Thanks for the treatment.” And bowing his head, he exited the medicine den without saying another word. 

He walked to the end of the cave, unprepared for what was coming for him. His relationship with Goldenstar was already fluctuating and he couldn’t allow himself any more slips or he would be at risk of getting rejected from his own clan.

Once he arrived at the leader’s den entrance, he sat on the rock floor, waiting for Goldenstar to let him in. As expected, after only having waited for a few moments, he heard his leader’s meow echo from inside the cave.

“Come in.” He said.

Granateclaw doubted for a second if he should go in or wait until morning so that the leader’s anger would fade away, but he couldn’t risk a worse punishment than what was to come, so he rose to his paws, gulped and made his way in.

The first thing he saw as he did so was Goldenstar’s back. He was laying down, facing the rocky wall.

“You know why you’re here, don’t you?” He said, his voice barely more than an angry whisper.

“Yes.” Granateclaw simply replied.

Goldenstar rose to his paws in an instant, making Granateclaw flinch and take a step back.

“Are you out of your flie-size mind, disrespecting a leader AND calling his warriors useless because YOU crossed their border!?” He shouted, making himself heard probably all the way to Featherclan’s camp.

The dark brown warrior kept quiet.

“What made you think that was a good idea?” Goldenstar asked him, irritation could clearly be sensed as he spoke.

“They needed to be put in their place, Goldenstar.” Granateclaw responded. “They can’t keep expanding their borders and expect that we do nothing about it.”

“The only thing you’ve done now is anger them. They’ll try to take even more territory!”

“No if we fight for it.” Granateclaw suggested.

“We cannot afford to lose more warriors and you know it, Granateclaw.” 

“We wouldn’t have to if we win.”

Now it was Goldenstar’s turn to fall silent. None of the cats said anything, they just kept looking uncomfortably into each other’s eyes. Finally, Goldenstar spoke.

“Don’t you dare cross their border or try to fight Lightstar again, Granateclaw. You are dismissed.” And with a flick of his tail, the Iceclan leader let the warrior get out of his den with no repercussions for his actions but a warning.

Granateclaw felt relieved, a weight falling off his chest. It’d been a very long day, so he decided to let his head rest, falling asleep as quick as he laid down on his nest.

Granateclaw's eyes slowly fluttered open. Once he felt completely awake, he rose to his paws and took notice of his surroundings. The hard and cold floor of the cave had been replaced with soft, green grass. Trees grew all around him and he could even spot a few mice and squirrels running around. Birds were chirping happily and different kinds of flowers grew all across the small forest, absolutely different from Iceclan’s territory.

"What place is this?" He thought out loud, confused. He couldn’t comprehend how one moment ago he was sleeping in his den and now he was in a strange utopian area.

"You are in Starclan, young warrior." An unknown cat answered him.

"What? Who said that? Who are you!? Show yourself!" Granateclaw snapped at the air, looking around him for someone who wasn't there.

"Relax, Granateclaw. Everything is fine, it's me." Finally, the figure appeared in front of the warrior.

When he recognised the cat that he was talking to, his eyes swelled up in tears. He hesitated for a bit but rapidly ran and pressed himself against the Starclan warrior, inhaling the musky scent that he hadn’t smelt for moons.

"I know, I've missed you too." The cat reassured him, licking his face.

Both of them now were back to seasons ago, when the fallen cat was still alive and healthy, and when Granatepaw was fearless and still a playful apprentice, full of excitement and energy. But that was a completely different cat than the one that was standing in his dreams right now.

He had aged, and with that lost his energy, his silliness, and instead that was replaced with bitterness and made him a bit cold hearted. And still he was standing there, crying.

"B-but I can't be dead, can I?" Granateclaw stuttered between sobs, still amazed by what was happening. 

"No, no. Nothing like that." The starry cat responded. "I'm just here to deliver a message."

"A message? But shouldn't have you just contacted Finchsong instead?"

"This message is for you and you only, Granateclaw, so listen closely."

Both cats now stood up and the Starclan one backed away. The ground shook once, then twice, and then a full earthquake began shattering the grassy ground.

“What’s happening!?” Granateclaw screamed, now scared.

The cracks on the ground became wider and wider, until Granateclaw tripped into one of them.

He fell, and he fell, and he fell, but while he was fading into the darkness that consumed him, he heard his father’s voice echoing through the void.

_“A battle will be fought that will end the reign of a leader to make way to another. Two clans divided by blood, reunited yet again by death, and the lost warrior’s journey will finally come to a close just to grant light to the one that gave it to him so many moons back.”_

At last, Granateclaw’s body collided with the ground and with a gasp, he finally awoke. He could still feel the tears rolling down his eyes and his father’s warm fur against his body. The dark tom couldn’t comprehend what just happened, but he couldn’t lay inside the warriors den all day, so he decided to stand up. As he did so, his legs trembled and failed to support him, so he stumbled into his soft moss bed.

“Granateclaw, are you alright?” Aspenclaw, who had just woken up, asked the warrior.

“I’m...fine.” Granateclaw said, trying not to sound sentimental.

“But are you though? If you think you are feeling unwell or have a fever, please let Finchsong check you again, your wound might be infected.”

Granateclaw had completely forgotten about the cut in his muzzle from last night’s argument with Lightstar. He brought his paw to his face to check if the leaves and cobwebs were still there or had fallen because of the movements in his sleep. He felt the soft exposed flesh from his open wound and flinched in pain.

“I think I saw the herbs that Finchsong gave to you laying somewhere around here… There they are!” Aspenclaw told him, pointing with his tail to a small bundle of strong smelling plants next to Granateclaw’s nest. “I think you should go to the medicine cats den to replace it.”

“That’s what they told me last night, I’ll go right now.” The brown cat managed to answer the deputy, and made his way into the bigger cave.

Once he left the den, he could tell by looking at the entrance of the camp that it was early morning and the weather seemed to have improved a bit since last night he checked. Sun rays illuminated the cave, warming it up, and the ice cold winds had subsided, it was truly a great day for a training session, so instead of going to the smaller cave where the she-cats kept all their herbs, he decided to wake Yarrowpaw and his apprentice up. He entered the apprentices' den and saw both cats sleeping soundly, the other two nests of the den already empty so he decided to scare the two smaller toms a bit.

“WAKE UP BOTH OF YOU, IT’S TIME TO GO TRAINING!” Granateclaw shouted as loud as he could.

Yarrowpaw and Silverpaw both jumped out of their dens, completely awake and spooked out of their pelts. The dark warrior broke into a fit of laughter and quickly ran out to the opening of the cave to calm down and wait for both apprentices to realise what had just happened.

Once the smaller cats recomposed themselves, they walked out of their den, their pelts fluffed and bristled up.

“What was that for?” Silverpaw asked, amusemed but still shaking a bit.

“I just wanted to surprise you.” Granateclaw responded, not a slight hint of joy in his voice but rather seriousness as if nothing had occurred at all.

Yarrowpaw was confused by the change in the mentor’s behaviour but just shook it off.

“Anyways, where’s Oakbreeze?” The golden cat asked.

“He must be on the dawn patrol, he wasn’t in our den when I woke up.”

And just as he said that, a group of three warriors and two apprentices made their way into the camp, some of them carrying fresh pieces of prey. As Granateclaw had said just a moment ago, one of the cats forming the patrol was Oakbreeze, who approached the other three.

“Why are you all up so early? I thought we planned on doing the training sessions a while after the dawn patrol came home.” Oakbreeze questioned and before Granateclaw could respond, Yarrowpaw answered for him.

“Granateclaw shouted at us and woke us up with a scare!”

“Is that true!?” Oakbreeze asked the other warrior accusingly and not amused at all.

“It was just a prank, I thought maybe it would cheer them up a bit and fully wake them up at the same time.” He defended himself.

“It wasn’t that bad, it was rather funny actually.” Silverpaw defended his mentor, laughing a bit.

“Well, alright then. As long as all of you are ready and not mad we can get going to the training clearing.” Yarrowpaw’s mentor proposed.

The group of cats exited the cave one after the other, Silverpaw being the last, just behind Yarrowpaw. The silver cat instantly felt his pelt getting warmer as the morning sun rays heated up his long coat of fur. 

The little snow and frost that remained from last night had already melted and unlike the other day, not even a pinch of wind bothered any of the cats nor animals nearby, although the earth and rocks were certainly wet and slippery and could make fall any cat who wasn’t paying attention to where they were putting their paws.

While Silverpaw and Yarrowpaw were admiring the beautiful landscape, the four cats arrived at the sides of the empty clearing, but instead of continuing any further, Oakbreeze’s ears perked up and with his tail he signaled all the others to stop right where they stood.

“I just heard something go into those bushes over there.” He whispered, showing where he thought he had heard ruffling with his head.

“It’s probably just a rabbit.” Granateclaw told him, not too convinced.

“But it is true! I swear! I also saw some light coloured fur go into the bushes!” He tried to reason, while trotting towards the other side of the clearing, and, lowering his nose, he sniffed the plants and thorns. “I told you! There’s a cat’s scent over here!” He shouted to the other three.

The warrior and the two apprentices walked over the border of the clearing where Oakbreeze was standing and all crouched down to smell the bushes.

“I do smell a scent, but I bet it was just a loner or a kittypet wandering off their den.” Granateclaw finally admitted.

“But what if it’s a loner? It might be stealing food from our territory!” Yarrowpaw exclaimed.

Both warriors sniffed again the unknown smell.

“I’m almost certain that it is a kittypet. It doesn’t smell like any loners I have seen.” Oakbreeze reasoned.

“I agree, it’s probably from that twoleg’s den over there. Can you both see it?” Granateclaw said to the apprentices.

“Is it that dark brown thing that shows over the trees?” Silverpaw asked.

“Yes, it is. Sometimes the medicine cats go over there to fetch some herbs that don’t grow in our territory.” Oakbreeze explained.

“Well, let's just begin training and forget about the kittypet, they were probably exploring anyways.” Granateclaw suggested, and walked into the middle of the clearing. “Today we’re gonna learn how to-”

“Fight!” Yarrowpaw howled, cutting Granateclaw.

“Yes! We want to learn fighting moves!” Silverpaw joined in.

Both mentors looked at eachother, and with a sigh, they agreed.

“Alright, I guess we could teach you both some fighting moves BUT you’ll have to practise your hunting stance and join one of the patrols tomorrow.” Oakbreeze warned them.

“Yes! As long as we get to go together.” Silverpaw responded.

“Then it’s settled. Both of you, come near, we’ll be teaching a basic move very useful to both of you right now, the leap-and-hold.” Granateclaw began explaining.

“What’s that?” Yarrowpaw asked, confused.

“I’m glad you asked, it’s a move usually used by small cats that consists on grabbing onto your opponent’s back and not letting it go. This way you’re out of your enemy’s range of attack and you can do lots of damage at the same time.” Oakbreeze told them. “Now, Granateclaw and I will show you how it’s done. I’ll leap and land on top of him and he’ll try to shake me off, then you can both try it out.”

Both warriors took a stand in the middle while the apprentices sat down near them to watch.

“Whenever you are ready, Oakbreeze.”

And as he said that, Oakbreeze swiftly jumped onto Granateclaw’s back, unsheathing his claws but only to hold on to his fur. Oakbreeze managed to not lose his balance and stayed in his clanmate’s back until Granateclaw decided that it was enough and, rolling effortlessly to his side, Oakbreeze fell to the ground, Granateclaw above him, holding the cat in place with his front legs.

“Now that you’ve seen how it’s done you can try it yourselves.” Granateclaw said, as he released Oakbreeze from his iron grip.

Both apprentices knew from last time what to do and, without saying a word, Silverpaw positioned himself to launch at Yarrowpaw, who was already waiting for the silver cat to make the move. 

As fast as a running hare, Silverpaw jumped and grabbed onto Yarrowpaw’s back, who struggled to be steady and not collapse on the ground. The golden apprentice tried to roll on the ground like Granateclaw had done before him but failed to do so and just gave in to Silverpaw’s weight, falling to his side.

“That was great, Silverpaw, you were fast and precise on where you landed. However, I can’t say the same about Yarrowpaw.” Granateclaw commented.

“Silverpaw was clearly too heavy for Yarrowpaw to handle, they’re almost the same size. I think both of you were great, and you tried to make the correct move when Silverpaw attacked you.” Oakbreeze defended and praised his apprentice.

“Yeah, that was awesome Yarrowpaw! I can’t believe you managed to stand that long with me on top of you!” Silverpaw congratulated his friend with a smile on his face.

Yarrowpaw ignored Granateclaw’s comment and instead thanked Silverpaw and Oakbreeze for theirs, then the apprentices prepared themselves again but this time the other way around.

The golden cat ran towards the silver one and jumped on top of him like Silverpaw and Oakbreeze had done before, landing just on top of his friend.

He unsheathed his claws to grab tighter onto Silverpaw’s pelt while the other apprentice was trying to make him fall off, which he surprisingly did by walking to the nearest tree and bumping into it with his back, making Yarrowpaw let loose of his grip and tumbling down but landing on his paws. Silverpaw took a few steps back from him and as he was going to launch at Silverpaw again a loud meow interrupted their training.

“Those were some great moves from both of you, you’ll make fine warriors one day.” Goldenstar’s figure appeared from the line of trees surrounding the clearing, praising the apprentices.

As he saw his father, Yarrowpaw forgot about the fight Silverpaw and him were having and instead trotted towards the leader.

“Dad! Were you watching us train? I was pretty good, was I?” He exclaimed cheerfully.

“Of course you were. I’ve been watching you since the beginning, I just wanted to check on how your training was going.” Goldenstar answered.

Silverpaw was shocked as he didn’t expect their leader to be supervising the training session and hoped he had seen his moves too, but wasn’t going to go ask him that because it would obviously sound very childish of him to just go ask the leader for attention when he was there probably just because of his son.

The gray apprentice’s tail fell down when he felt a sudden ping of sadness watching both golden toms talking to each other. 

_Who even_ is _my father? Would he be proud of me?_ He thought, his face lowering as he couldn’t stand seeing Yarrowpaw reminding him unintentionally of his lack of a father figure.

Granateclaw was without Silverpaw noticing watching him very carefully, and as he saw his apprentice so unhappy he raised his tail and put it on top of his shoulder in an act of comfort.

Silverpaw looked up at his mentor and shot him a small smile.

“I think this training session is over. I don’t know what else to add if Goldenstar has already said it.” Oakbreeze told all of the cats of the clearing. “You’re free to do whatever you like today, but remember the promise you’ve made!”

“We know, Oakbreeze!” Yarrowpaw replied back as he began walking towards the camp. “Come on, Silverpaw, let’s get to the cave before anyone else so we can grab the best piece of prey!”

“I’m coming, I’ll be there in just a moment.” Silverpaw answered.

He felt curiosity as to who his father might be and why he hadn’t raised him nor have ever stopped to visit when he was a kit. Silverpaw couldn’t believe how he hadn’t asked before about his other parent to his mom.

 _I guess I was too fixated on becoming an apprentice rather than knowing who my parents are. I’ll go ask Birchstripe about it tonight._ He decided.

He didn’t know how she would react, nor what the answer to his question would be, but he was surely ready for whatever was awaiting for him.


	8. Chapter 6

It had been a very long day for Silverpaw. He, along with Yarrowpaw, had spent the afternoon hunting, or at least trying to hunt, because he hadn’t caught anything even though he was searching for prey until sunfall. Yarrowpaw however was luckier and managed to get his paws on two mice and a plump vole. Both of them were walking to the camp, carrying Yarropaw’s prey in their mouth.

Once they entered the cave, Snakeglare greeted them.

“Dear Starclan! How did you both manage to catch that much?” She said, amazed.

“Actually, these are all Yarrowpaw’s. I didn’t manage to catch anything.” Silverpaw corrected the she-cat.

“You caught all of these on your own?” The warrior couldn’t believe what she had heard.

Yarrowpaw’s pelt grew hot with embarrassment and pride.

“Yes, I did.”

“You’re such a great hunter! I bet you got that from your father. You see, I couldn’t even catch a mouse as an apprentice even if I wanted to.” She remembered with a smile on her face.

“Snakeglare, do you happen to know where Brichstripe might be? I want to talk to her.” Silverpaw asked Yarrowpaw’s mom.

“I believe she’s out on a patrol, although I bet she’s just about to arrive any moment now.”

“Thanks, Snakeglare.” Silverpaw said.

“Do you want to share the vole with me while you wait?” Yarrowpaw told him, walking towards the fresh kill pile to put all the other prey there.

“Sure thing.” Silverpaw agreed, and when Yarrowpaw had left the mice in the pile, they laid down in front of the apprentices' den to eat.

“So, I noticed you were a bit down today. Has something happened?” Yarrowpaw asked, worried about his friend.

Silverpaw was shocked that Yarrowpaw had seen him being gloomy, and even though he had tried by all means to not show it to anyone, the golden cat had seen right through his facade.

“Well…” Silverpaw began. “It’s just that-”

“Hey Yarrowpaw, Silverpaw! Care if we sit down with you?” Smokepaw’s voice cut him off, while his brother Darkpaw trotted behind him.

“Of course, feel free to join us.” Silverpaw answered him, unsure and a bit uncomfortable.

Both gray cats sat down next to them and put their magpie on the ground, ready to eat it.

“So… What have you both been up to?” Smokepaw asked, trying to start a conversation.

“We went hunting! I was super lucky and managed to catch two mice and this vole right here!” He said, completely forgetting the question he had asked just moments ago to Silverpaw, and his concern was replaced with excitement.

“Dear Starclan, that’s so cool!” Darkpaw exclaimed.

At that moment, Silverpaw zoomed out of the conversation and retrieved to his own thoughts.

_ Should I really tell Yarrowpaw?  _ He said to himself.  _ I don’t want to bother him… I’ll probably just ask my mother about my dad. _

“Silverpaw? Silverpaw! Are you there?” Smokepaw half shouted to the other apprentice, trying to catch his attention.

“Huh? Wh-What were you talking about? I didn’t catch it.” He said, confused.

“We were just saying that tomorrow we’ll probably train all four of us together, Larkflight told me so! Isn’t it great?” The gray tom told him, enthusiastic.

“Y-Yeah! It’ll be fun.” Silverpaw awkwardly responded.

“Well, anyways, I think we should be all going to sleep. We have to train tomorrow after all and the moon has already risen.” Smokepaw suggested.

“I agree, I’m getting kinda-” Yarrowpaw yawned half way through his sentence. “Tired.”

“But please, whoever gets up first, don’t wake us all up with a scream! Last time we almost jumped out of our pelts.” The golden cat requested.

“Last time?” Smokepaw commented, with a smirk on his face.

“Goodnight everyone!” Yarrowpaw quickly left and entered their den.

“Wait! You have to tell us what that was about!” Smokepaw ran inside too, Darkpaw just behind him.

Silverpaw was left alone at the entrance of the small cave. 

_ I guess Birchstripe would have come by now, I’ll go talk to her right now. _

He rose up to his paws and carefully walked towards the warriors den, trying to not make any noise as to not wake any cat who was asleep. He peeked inside and saw that only Sparrowfeather, Rainmist and Molenose were there sleeping, so he quickly got out.

“What exactly are you looking for?” A deep meow made Silverpaw jump. He slowly turned around to be faced by none other than Goldenstar.

“I was s-searching for Birchstripe.” Silverpaw answered, his nerves obviously showing and making him look suspicious, at least under Goldenstar’s eyes.

“Suure.” He responded, sarcastically. “What were you  _ really _ doing there?” 

“I-I just told you! I’m searching for Birchstripe.” The apprentice whispered, scared now by the tone on his leader’s voice. 

The golden tom checked his surroundings, and when he was sure that no one was near or just couldn’t hear him, he hissed.

“Don’t lie to me you little bra-”

“Enough, Goldenstar. He’s telling the truth.” Suddenly, out of nowhere, Granateclaw arrived, cutting Goldenstar off. “I heard him talking with Snakeglare before about where his mother was. You can go ask her if you want.”

Goldenstar was shocked as he hadn’t seen the tom approaching them before, for he was certain the rest of the warriors were out on a midnight patrol.

Without saying anything else, the leader retrieved to his den where his mate was also resting, but when he was half way through, Granateclaw meowed.

“The rest of the mentors and me were thinking that we could steal Rainmist for a few training sessions these days, are you okay with that?”

Without turning his head, Goldenstar responded.

“Do whatever you want, it’s not as she’s useful on patrols or hunting.”

Granateclaw’s smirk faded as he heard his leader’s words.

“How can you say that?”

And before Goldenstar could hear him, he was already inside his den.

Silverpaw let out a sigh of relief.

“Dear Starclan, I don’t know how but you always seem to come at the right moment.” 

“Well, you can think I’m a spirit that’s always watching you and being creepy. Look at me, I’m a ghost!” Granateclaw joked, doing some funny faces that made Silverpaw laugh out loud.

“Quiet, some cats are sleeping.” He hushed his apprentice. “By the way, Birchstripe is about to come from the midnight patrol any moment now, so just be a bit more patient.”

“Yeah, that was what Snakeglare said before I even had my last piece of prey for the day and I’m still here waiting.” Silverpaw responded.

“Well, you can wait with me if you want-” Granateclaw’s sentence was cut short due to a fit of cough that the dark brown warrior had.

“A-Are you alright?” Silverpaw said, worried.

“Yeah, it’s just-  _ Cough, cough!  _ Probably some fur from the mouse I ate before that got caught in my throat.” He responded, being able to speak now.

“Why was Goldenstar so rude? He was very nice when this morning he was talking with Yarrowpaw and I!” Silverpaw questioned. Granateclaw scoffed.

“Don’t let his looks deceive you, he’s the most fox hearted warrior I have ever met.” He said bitterly.

Silverpaw couldn’t understand why Granateclaw had insulted their leader like that.

_ He may have snapped at me earlier, but it was probably just because I looked suspicious. I don’t think he’s as bad as Granateclaw says. _

But before he could comment anything, he heard the patrol of warriors enter the cave after having waited for them for so long. Some cats had in their mouth a piece of prey, most of them however didn’t, Birchstripe was among the ones who did though. She walked towards the end of the cave to deposit her scrawny vole there and that was when Silverpaw approached her.

“Mom, I need to talk to you for a bit. In private.” He whispered.

“Can’t it wait until tomorrow? I’m terribly tired from walking so long.” Birchstripe responded.

Silverpaw thought for a bit.  _ Should I really ask her tomorrow? But what if there’s not a good enough opportunity and I never get to ask her? _

“No, it can’t. I’ll wait for you by the training clearing.” He said, finally making up his mind. And without letting Birchstripe say anything else, he ran outside the cave towards the forest. 

_ Am I really making the right choice by asking her? What if I don’t like her answer? _ He doubted himself, as he ran and ran through the dark trees, ignoring the tiredness he felt in his legs and the cold wind that was ruffling his silver pelt.

Finally he stopped for a bit to catch his breath. He was very close to the clearing, but instead of walking whatever distance was left he sat down and looked up at the stars to try and clear his thoughts.

“The sky is really beautiful tonight.” He muttered under his breath.

“It truly is.” Birchstripe’s voice sounded from behind him.

“I didn’t think you were going to come…”

“Of course I was, as soon as I felt the urge in your meow I knew it was important.” She reassured him. “So… What’s bothering you?”

Now that he was ready to ask her, he couldn’t even find the words to formulate the important question.

“I-I wanted to ask you…” He hesitated, his voice barely audible and no more than a whisper that the wind carried.

“Go on.” Birchstripe insisted.

“Who  _ is _ my father?”

Both of them went immediately quiet after that, Birchstripe’s face impossible to read. 

_ Dear Starclan, what is she going to say? _ The stress was unbearable.

A few awkward moments passed until Birchstripe finally decided to talk.

“I didn’t think you were going to ask it so soon… I was planning on telling you in a few moons, but if you really want to know...” She took a big breath before she answered the question. “Silverpaw, you father is dead.”

  
  


“What did you just say?”

  
  


Silverpaw couldn’t believe his ears. In the worst case scenario he had expected his mother to tell him that maybe his father was from another clan and that their relationship was forbidden, but dead?

“Please, tell me you’re joking...” Silverpaw’s eyes started to build up with tears. “Tell me you are joking.”

He was starting to feel dizzy. His mind was full of happy moments that he had seen Yarrowpaw experience. His first catch, his naming ceremony, all of them made his father praise him and made both of them proud of each other. It was at that moment that he realised that he wouldn’t be able to do any of that, nor feel his father’s fur against his when he’s feeling down.

“I’m afraid not. Let me tell you the whole story.” Birchstripe began explaining.

“Your father was not a regular warrior, not even a warrior for that matter, he was a loner. We began meeting in secret against my clan’s wishes, but we loved each other, so that didn’t matter to us. Once I found out I was pregnant, we agreed that if I had more than one kitten, I would give half the litter to him.”

“Why would you agree on that!?” Silverpaw shouted.

“Please, let me finish. I gave birth to you and to another kit right when the avalanches were stronger, but as agreed, the same night I gave birth, I met with your father to give her to him. Unluckily for both of them, an avalanche happened just as I entered the camp. Next morning, I found out he had died, although his body and the kitten’s were never found.” 

“Wait, let me get this straight. You had kits with a rogue, despite being forbidden, agreed to give up on  _ half _ your litter and didn’t even wait for the kit to begin eating by itself to do so? All of this when the avalanches were at their strongest!?” Silverpaw’s sadness was overtaken by rage. His mother’s negligence caused a cat and a newly born kitten to disappear in the cold snows of winter and it was all her fault. “But you’re telling me that no one found their body. They could still be alive!” He tried to not give up on hope, but his mother didn’t agree with him.

“No, Silverpaw. You have to comprehend, they are  _ dead _ , as much as it hurts me to say it.” Birchstripe broke down.

“But you didn’t even care enough to think it twice before doing what you did and causing two cats to lose their lifes, didn’t you!?”

“I admit it, I’ve made some stupid decisions, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t regret them every day of my life.” She tried to reason with Silverpaw.

“I’m done with you, I shouldn’t have even asked in the first place.”

And like before, without leaving room to say anything else, he fled. He ran away from his mother, away from the anger and grief that consumed him and away from the thought that he wouldn’t even get to see his father or the one who would have been his sister ever. 


	9. Chapter 7

“Hey Silverpaw, wake up.” Darkpaw’s soft voice said to the other sleeping apprentice.

Silverpaw fluttered his eyes open, his paws and legs still aching a bit from last night’s run.

“I’m awake!” He told him, raising to his paws and stretching.

“Good, everyone is already waiting outside eating. Wanna join?” The dark gray tom asked him.

“Sure thing, I don’t see why not.” He said, as they both walked out into the centre of the cave, where surely enough, Yarrowpaw and Smokepaw were waiting for them, each one eating a mouse.

The thoughts of his discussion with Birchstripe were still lingering in his mind.

_ How could she? _ He bitterly thought, feeling his eyes water up again with anger.  _ I won’t cry right in front of them. _ And he shook his head, making the small tears go away.

“Hey! Took you long enough! We brought you a dove to share.”

“Thanks, Smokepaw.” Silverpaw said, getting ready to eat.

“Soo… Where were you last night?” Yarrowpaw was the one asking this time.

Silverpaw felt silent for a moment before finally responding.

“I couldn’t really sleep, so just after you went into the den I walked out onto the forest to walk a bit and watch the stars. They were really beautiful.” Trying to change the topic, he said. “So anyways, have you heard that today we get to train all together? Just as I was going out, I came across Granateclaw and he said that today it was going to be a special session! I think Rainmist is coming along too?”

“Yes! That’s so cool!! We haven’t really trained together until now!” Smokepaw exclaimed, taking another bite from his food. “I wonder what will we practise today?”

“I don’t really know, but it’s going to be epic!” Yarrowpaw said excitedly, contaging from Smokepaw’s energy.

The four cats kept talking for a while about everything, from what happened at the Gathering, to their first tour around the territory. When all of them had finished eating, Oakbreeze, Larkflight and Juniperfoot approached the apprentices.

“Are you all ready to go training today?” Larkflight exclaimed, fully awake and energetic.

The apprentices yowled and shouted in response.

“Alright, alright! No need to be so loud!” Juniperfoot laughed. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get going!”

“Wait, where is Granateclaw?” Silverpaw asked, estranged by the fact that his mentor wasn’t with them.

“Oh, he’s probably waiting outside with Rainmist. I didn’t see him when I got up and I was the first one to be awake.” Oakbreeze brushed it off, and continued walking along with the rest of cats, exiting the cave.

A chilly breeze blew once they walked out of the cave. As expected, Rainmist was sitting on the grass, waiting for the cats to finally come out. Oakbreeze frowned.

“I thought he would be waiting for us here… Let me ask Rainmist if she has seen him.” He said.

All seven cats walked now towards the white and gray she-cat, who was watching them with curiosity.

“Hello, Rainmist. Have you seen Granateclaw by any chance? We can’t seem to find him.” Oakbreeze asked. 

Silverpaw noticed that he was gesticulating quite more than usual, exaggerating the movements of his mouth as he talked and moving his paws in a certain way, but he didn’t say anything.

Much to his surprise, Rainmist didn’t respond, and instead just shook her head and also made different calculated gestures with her paws and tail.

“All right, thanks Rainmist!” Oakbreeze thanked her, and looked back at Silverpaw. “She says she saw him walk to the medicine cat den in the middle of the night. He’s probably still inside, you can go check on him to see why he’s there, it’s probably nothing serious. We’ll wait for you on the training clearing.” He told him, as he signalled the rest of the group to follow him into the forest.

Silverpaw was confused, as he hadn’t encountered Granateclaw when he had arrived from his walk last night, but shut his mouth and decided to just go inside the cave to see why was his mentor with Finchsong and Acornpaw.

_ I wonder why he might be in the medicine den. _ He thought, as he made his way into the camp.

The stone walls protected Silverpaw from the cold weather outside and he breathed in the warm air that had a familiar smell of dampness and moss. His paws walked across the rocky floor until he was just outside the medicine cat’s den.

Much to his surprise, Granateclaw couldn’t be seen when he entered the small cave, only some plants that were hidden on the holes of the wall stuck out and the sweet scent of herbs filled his nostrils, making him unable to smell any cat’s scent.

“Hi, Silverpaw! Do you need something?” Acornpaw asked, coming from the inside of the den.

“Yeah, I came to see if Granateclaw might be here. We’re going to train right now.” Silverpaw answered.

Acornpaw’s happy expression changed into one of worry. “I’m sorry, Silverpaw. Granateclaw’s a bit sick and won’t be able to go train today. He’ll probably be fine by tomorrow, though!”

Silverpaw was confused.  _ But last night he seemed just fine! _

“Can I see him?” He asked, unsure of the other apprentice’s answer.

“Sure thing! He’s on the back with Finchsong.” She said, and signalled the tom to come in with her.

They both squeezed through the narrow walls of the den for what seemed forever.  _ I’ve never been so deep into the den before. _ He thought.

Finally after a bit of walking, the path widened into an opening bigger than the apprentices and warriors’ den merged together. Although its size was admirable, there were only three moss beds on the ground, and laying in one of them Silverpaw recognized the dark brown form of his mentor.

“Granateclaw!” He shouted, trotting over to see him.

“H-Hey, Silverpaw. What are you doing around here?” Granateclaw’s weak meow resounded and echoed in the cave.

“I came to check how you were doing! We were worried that something bad had happened to you!” Silverpaw exclaimed.

Granateclaw let out a dry laugh, but began coughing half way. That’s when Finchsong, who Siverpaw hadn’t noticed when he came in, rose up to her paws and got near Granateclaw with a bundle dangling from her mouth.

“Here, eat a bit of honey, it’ll help your sore throat.” Finchsong said as she left the bundle which protected a piece of honeycomb.

“Thanks, Fincshong.” Granateclaw bowed his head to the medicine cat and quickly licked the sweet nectar.

“I-Is it serious?” Silverpaw asked, afraid to know the answer.

“No, not at all. He probably just caught a cold last night, he’ll be fine by tomorrow, but for now he must stay in the den so as to not worsen the situation.” Finchsong explained.

“Alright, then… I’ll be going to the training grounds, Yarrowpaw and the rest are probably waiting for me.”

He was just about to exit the cave and go into the tunnel when Finchsong’s voice made him stop in his tracks.

“By the way, if you’re going to the forest or near the twoleg den, could you please accompany Acornpaw to collect some herbs? Granateclaw told me that there’s a cat roaming around there and I don’t want her to go all by herself.”

“Sis, I’m not a kitten!” Acornpaw screeched, embarrassed. “And besides, I can take care of myself! I’m even older than Silverpaw!”

“You can be as old as you want, Acornpaw, but you aren’t a warrior and can’t defend yourself as well as Silverpaw can protect you.” Finchsong retorted.

“Actually, I think Acornpaw is right. I’m not really that good of a fighter…” The silver cat lowered his face, not wanting to get into the siblings’ dispute.

“That’s mouse dung! I’ve seen you fight, and, for only having done two fighting sessions, you are a natural!” Granateclaw interrupted this time.

“Then it’s settled. Acornpaw, you remember what you have to fetch right?” Finchsong asked, and when she saw Acornpaw nodding she continued, “Then go with Silverpaw!”

The small she-cat knew it was useless arguing with her sibling, so she gave in with a scoff and just followed Silverpaw out of the medicine cat den and into the bigger camp cave.

“Dear Starclan, she’s annoying!” Acornpaw exclaimed.

“Well, at least you’ve got a sister…” Silverpaw muttered under his breath.

“Did you say something?” The dark brown she-cat asked, not really hearing what the other apprentice had said.

“No, I j-just said that you’re right! She seems a bit annoying, but I bet it’s because she cares about you.”

Both of them were now walking through the dense forest, their pawsteps growing nearer to the clearing until they could hear the voice of some cats clearly in the distance.

“C’mon, we’re almost there!” Silverpaw said, walking a bit faster to reach the training grounds.

Once they stepped on the clearing, every cat of the group turned their heads to see who was coming.

“You certainly took a while, Silverpaw!” Larkflight stated.

“I’m sorry I made you all wait.” Silverpaw apologized.

“Don’t worry! We were just talking with each other for a while.” Juniperfoot reassured him.

“And, by the way Silverpaw, what is Acornpaw doing here?” Oakbreeze asked, slightly curious.

“Oh, she’s here because she needed to collect some herbs and Finchsong said that she should come with me to… protect her I guess?” Silverpaw said the last part unsure.

“Overprotective and lazy, that’s Finchsong for you all!” Smokepaw joked out loud.

“That’s not funny, Smokepaw.” Acornpaw snickered, trying to sound mad, but failed, and bursted out laughing.

All the apprentices contaged from Acornpaw’s laughter and began bursting out in tears, even Rainmist was laughing a bit under her breath.

“Enough! We have to get started or we’ll be here until sunfall.” Oakbreeze sternly said to the apprentice, who hearing the mentor’s angry voice stopped at once.

“Sorry, Oakbreeze.” Yarrowpaw told his mentor.

“Well, some of you might know that today’s training session is a bit special. This is the first time you’ve all trained together and I expect that you behave correctly.” Oakbreeze explained.

“We’ve got a guest today, you might have seen her doing patrols and warrior duties in general, her name’s Rainmist.” Juniperfoot continued, and signalled to the white she-cat who was sitting next to her.

Rainmist bowed her head as a greeting gesture and let Juniperfoot talk. “She’s a very special cat. Ranmist has been deaf and mute from the moment she was born and she’s had to train in a very different way than most apprentices do because of it, so that’s what we’ll be doing today: learn to train like Rainmist did when she was an apprentice.”

_ So that’s why she didn’t respond to Oakbreeze talking! The gestures she made probably are her way of communicating! _ Silverpaw realized.

“That’s so cool!” Yarrowpaw and Smokepaw exclaimed excitedly.

“Although you have to keep in mind that her way of training is way more difficult than yours.” Larkflight warned them. “As she can’t hear, she needs to guide herself by the movements she  _ feels _ , like the rustling of a leaf or the wind on her fur.”

“But, how are we going to talk with her if she can’t hear us?” Darkpaw innocently asked.

“That’s a great question, Darkpaw! You see, she can read your body and mouth as well as you can hear a voice.” Larkflight said. “She’s been taught since she was a kitten to understand what other cats are saying. The only thing that you have to worry about is you understanding her.”

“And how do we do that?” This time it was Yarrowpaw who asked.

“That’s why we all are here today! Our first lesson is learn how to communicate with any mute or/and deaf cats!” Oakbreeze responded.

“First you’ve got to know that when you are talking with a deaf cat, some of them might not know how to read your mouth, so you have to move and make as many gestures as you can so that even though they can’t hear you, they at least understand what you’re saying.” Larkflight explained. “For example, if you are asking Rainmist right here that you want her to follow you, what would you do?”

“I would first tap her to catch her attention and then signal her with my tail and head to follow me.” Silverpaw answered.

“That’s exactly what you need to do!” Larkflight praised the apprentice. “First, you catch their attention tapping them or making visual signs and then you use your body to express what you want to say!”

Rainmist nodded, making an approving and affectionate gesture to the apprentice.

The group of cats spent the whole morning talking about different methods and signs to communicate with Rainmist or other disabled cats that they may encounter. All the apprentices were surprisingly calm throughout the whole session and paid their full attention to the mentors’ explanations.

Meanwhile, Acornpaw had left the clearing to go search the plants she and her sister needed, and when the time came to approach the twoleg den and fetch the last herbs, she turned around to go ask Silverpaw, as Finchsong wanted, to go accompany her.

When she entered the clearing, the cats were already finishing the lesson, and the younger ones were talking kind of slowly, but surely, with Rainmist, making different gestures and sometimes even funny faces to make the warrior laugh.

“Well, that’s enough for today! You can go back to camp to eat something if you want to.” Juniperfoot said to the apprentices. “And thank you so much for your patience, Rainmist.”

“Actually, it was quite fun training with the apprentices!” Rainmist responded gesticulating.

“Hi, I just came here to ask Silverpaw if he could accompany me to grab the last herbs I needed?” Acornpaw asked shyly.

“Sure thing! He’s already finished training.” Oakbreeze responded.

“B-But why me? There are literally four grown warriors here! Why send an apprentice to protect Acornpaw?” Silverpaw reasoned, trying to get away from the task the medicine cat had requested him to do.

“Finchsong asked specifically for you. If I were in your paws, I wouldn’t want to upset her.” Larkflight joked.

Seeing as he had no other choice, Silverpaw trotted over to Acornpaw. “Well, let’s get this over with.”

“Actually, could you help me carry some of these herbs? I’m afraid that they may fall until we get to the den.” Acornpaw asked.

“Sure thing.” Silverpaw said, as he picked some of the herbs from the bundle the she-cat carried in her mouth.

Both apprentices walked side to side in silence, for they had both of their mouths filled with stems of different plants. 

The strong herbs’ scent filled Silverpaw’s nose, making him sneeze.  _ Dear Starclan, I don’t know how Acornpaw and Finchsong can put up with this smell! _

Acornpaw laughed slightly. “It’s just a matter of time before you get used to it.” The dark she-cat’s voice sounded muffled between the leaves and flowers. 

Silverpaw felt his pelt grow hot with embarrassment as he hadn’t intended to speak his thoughts out loud. Luckily for him, they had already reached the twoleg’s wooden fence, where different flowers could be seen growing from different holes on it.

“We have to be quick if we don’t want to be seen by any kittypet or twoleg.” Acornpaw rushed Silverpaw. “Help me pick up any smelly flower or plant that you can find around the den.”

“Wait, any? How am I supposed to know which one to choose?”

“You’ll know once you see them, it’s not that hard to recognize them!” The she-cat talked back, walking the opposite direction from where Silverpaw was sitting to grab plants from the other side of the den.

_ This is so stupid, how can she expect that I know which ones are which? I could even pick a toxic plant, for Starclan’s sake! _

But even though he felt really unsure of himself, Silverpaw started grabbing and cutting the stems of the herbs that seemed green enough to be used or that were “smelly”, as Acornpaw had said.

_ Do I need to grab the roots too or just the leaves and stems?  _

The silver apprentice looked over to the bundle he had carried and that he had left on the grass next to him to check and compare the plants there to the ones sticking out of the boards. Almost none of them were the same, so he had to trust his gut feeling to choose the right ones.

When he had a decent sized pile of herbs on the ground and he had made sure that he could carry all of them, he decided to search for Acornpaw so that they could return to camp.

_ I’m starving, I hope that Acornpaw’s already finished. _

Suddenly, while he was slowly walking around the twoleg den, he saw a flash of white fur from near a bush right on what seemed to be the entrance to the den. 

_ Wait, is that the same cat that Oakbreeze saw yesterday? _

Curiosity brought the best of Silverpaw and he approached the unknown cat slowly, trying not to make any noise so as to not scare them away.

Once he was at a very small distance from the cat, he decided to speak. “H-Hi. My name is Silverpaw and I just wanted to ask you something.” He softly said.

In a quick movement, the white cat turned around with their fur ruffled up, facing the apprentice.

Now Silverpaw could fully see who was in front of him. It was a beautiful, white she-cat who had splotches of orange and dark gray across her face and pelt. She seemed to be his age. There was a collar around her neck and a shiny object dangling from it that made noise when she had turned around. Her green eyes watched all his movements with fear.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” The she-cat demanded, alarm in her meow.

“I already told you, my name is Silverpaw, I’m here to-” But the white cat didn’t let him continue talking and instead cut him off.

“You are one of those feral cats living in the woods, aren’t you?” She said with fright. “I don’t want anything to do with you or your clans, leave me alone!”

As she finished her sentence, she ran inside the den by a hole on the entrance, leaving no trace of her ever being there.

“I just wanted to talk…” Silverpaw whispered, heartbroken by the she-cat’s reaction to him.

He walked out, only to find Acornpaw approaching him with her mouth full of even more herbs than before.

“There you are! I was searching for you. Come on, I’ve already got everything, let’s get back to camp.”

Silverpaw picked up his plants again and followed his friend to the cave. While walking through the wet, grassy ground, he immersed himself in his thoughts about what had happened just a moment before.

_ Am I really that bad as to scare someone away? _


	10. Chapter 8

Both apprentices arrived at the camp safely after having walked for a while all the way from the twoleg’s den. They entered the medicine cat den and Acornpaw guided Silverpaw towards the end of the cave where Granateclaw was resting last time they had entered.

Once they came inside the sheltered den, Finchsong greeted them with an impatient voice.

“What took you both so long? It seemed like I waited moons for you to get here!”

“Sorry, I would have come a while ago if you had let me go fetch the herbs by myself.” Acornapaw retorted, leaving the plants on the right side of the cavern. “You can drop yours too here, Silverpaw.”

The silver cat did as he was told and left the plants next to Aconrpaw’s. “Yuck, finally I can get them out of my mouth!” He exclaimed, disgusted by the bitter taste of the herbs.

Aconrpaw laughed at his remark, and proceeded to select the good ones from Silverpaw’s bundle. “Look, you actually did a good job picking the correct ones!”

“Well, that was probably just luck.” He answered. Then he noticed that his mentor was still in the den, so he walked over to see how he was doing. “Hey Granateclaw! How’re you?” He asked, concerned.

“I’m doing fine.” Granateclaw coughed. “How was the training session with Rainmist?”

“It was great! We learned how to talk to her and understand what she says! It was awesome” Silverpaw said excitedly.

“That’s good-” A fit of coughing cut Granateclaw off. Silverpaw thought it was going to be like the last one, only a few dry coughs. But he was wrong. The warrior couldn’t stop himself from spitting and coughing again and again. Finchsong rapidly rushed to his side, trying to calm him down.

“Relax, Granateclaw. Breath in, and out. Try to stop yourself if you can.” She softly whispered to him.

Granateclaw tried to make the coughing end, but it was obviously painful and very hard for him to do so. 

Meanwhile, Acornpaw was already picking up some herbs from the ones she and Silverpaw had collected earlier.

“W-Wait, what’s happening to him?” Silverpaw asked, scared.

Neither of the medicine cats responded to him and instead directed their full attention to the sick cat.

“I think you should leave, Silverpaw.” Finchsong’s stern meow demanded.

Fearing that he would be forced to anyways, he exited the den. 

His face and tail were low, and the other three apprentices noticed that as he appeared from inside the smaller cave.

“Is something wrong, Silverpaw?” Yarrowpaw asked, concerned.

Silverpaw remained quiet for a moment before he spoke. “I think Granateclaw is ill.  _ Very _ ill.” His voice no louder than a whisper.

His friends’ smiles faded, replaced now by a look of sympathy and sadness.

“Last night I talked to him and he seemed just fine! Even when I checked on him this morning he was better than now!” He continued explaining. “But when I came in to leave the herbs I fetched with Acornpaw, he started coughing and just couldn’t stop. Finchsong told me to leave, so I think it’s pretty serious.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that, Silverpaw.” Darkpaw said.

“I really wish it’s nothing!” Smokepaw exclaimed, with false hope in his voice.

“Do you want to… Come hunting with us maybe?” Yarrowpaw suggested.

Silverpaw thought for a bit but decided to decline. “No, I’m not in the mood today. Maybe tomorrow. I’m going to take a nap now.”

“O-Ok. Hope you rest well then.” The golden cat said. “C’mon guys, let’s get going.”

And the three apprentices left the camp again.

Silverpaw walked over to the fresh kill pile, where a few cats were choosing what kind of prey they wanted to eat. Birchstripe was among the group of cats, so as Silverpaw approached the pile, she noticed him and decided to strike a conversation with him.

“Hey there, Silverpaw. Do you want to share this partridge with me?” She asked, a decent sized bird hanging from her mouth.

The apprentice, who was in a bad mood already, snapped at the audacity of his mother.

_ How can she ask me to share a prey with her after what she told me last night!? _

He tried to keep his calm and responded to her coldly. “No thanks, I would prefer to eat alone.”

Birchstripe frowned. “But it’s a pretty big bird, I cannot eat this all by myself.”

“Then find someone else to share it with.” He softly said, keeping himself from shouting.

“But I even caught it myself for you!” She lied, trying to guilt trip him into eating it with her.

“I. Don’t. Care. I already told you, eat it with somebody else. Look, there’s Molenose, you can share it with him.” He told her, pointing to the tabby tom with his tail.

Birchstripe finally gave up and with a displeased expression on her face, she walked away from the fresh kill pile to a secluded place next to the warriors’ den entrance.

Silverpaw took a deep breath and picked at random a small mouse. With the small prey in his mouth, he got inside the apprentices den to eat it by himself. He laid down on his bed and his mind started wondering.

He thought about his relationship with his mother and how with just an argument, it all crumbled down. 

_ We were actually pretty close when I was a kitten, but now that I’m an apprentice she barely talks to me anymore. _

Since Silverpaw had become an apprentice, the only time they had had a conversation together was when he asked her about his father.  _ Right now Granateclaw feels more like a father than Birchstripe as my mom, and look at how he’s now! _

He felt hot tears stream down his face. It was all too much to take in at once. After having finished the mouse, he closed his eyes and wondered off to sleep.

Silverpaw slowly opened his eyes and found himself in an unknown territory. Green grass covered the ground as far as his light blue eyes could see. A soft cold breeze ruffled his silver pelt. He kept analyzing the scenery, watching different trees scattered all around him. It seemed as if he was in a clearing, but no cat could be seen.

“Hello?” He asked, hoping that someone would appear to explain to him why he was there.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching in front of him. A shadowy figure appeared from behind some bushes, but Silverpaw couldn’t figure out who it was.

“H-Hi, do you know where we are?” He tried to talk with the stranger, who responded to him in a distorted voice.

“I don’t really know, I’ve never been here before.” The cat said, with the same perplexity as Silverpaw. “What’s your name?”

“My name is-” But when Silverpaw tried to tell the other cat his name, not even a sound could exit his mouth. Stranged, he tried to say it again. 

“I’m-” But the same thing happened, as if he didn’t know how to say it. Frustrated, he tried one last time, shouting. “MY NAME IS-” But he still couldn’t pronounce a word.

“Don’t need to yell! If you don’t want to tell me your name that’s fine too.” The shadow responded, reassuringly.

“W-What’s  _ your _ name?” Silverpaw asked, hoping that the stranger could pronounce theirs.

“Mine is-” But alas, he couldn’t say theirs either. “I cannot say my name!” They shouted back.

“Me neither.” Silverpaw laughed it off. “So, what are you doing here?”

“I was about to ask you the same question! I just… seemed to have appeared here!” They explained. “I-I’ve got to go, I think I’m-” The cat panicked.

“Wait! Will we see each other again?” The apprentice tried to ask again, but it was already too late, the cat had disappeared into thin air. 

“Huh, that was weird…” He said to himself.

“Indeed it was. And very awkward.” Another unknown voice responded to Silverpaw from behind.

He turned around, only to be faced by a long-haired, dark ginger tabby tom with a glowing aura all around him, as if stars were caught in his pelt.

“I thought you wanted to see your father.” The tom said, puzzled.

“W-What? Wh-Who are you and what just happened?” Silverpaw questioned the tom, extremely confused. “Were you the one who arranged all of this?”

The tabby tom chuckled. “Relax and sit down, I’ll explain everything to you in a moment.”

“Okay?” The apprentice sat down on the grass just in front of the nameless tom. “So, what’s your name, if you can even say it?”

“I’m Coldstream. No need to say yours, Silverpaw, I already know.” Coldstream told him.

“B-But how-?”

“I told you to relax, you are too tense!” The tom tried to calm Silverpaw down, putting his furry tail around the silver cat’s shoulders.

Weirdly enough, that simple gesture comforted the apprentice, who now wasn’t breathing as fast as just a moment earlier.

“Yes, I was the one who brought both of you here.” Coldstream started explaining. “And I know who you are because I’ve been watching you. I’m so sorry that you have to go through all of this.”

“That’s creepy…” Silverpaw muttered under his breath.

“Well, when you are a Starclan cat, almost everything you do is excused one way or the other!” The ginger tom laughed.

“Wait, you are dead?” The apprentice exclaimed, thinking this couldn’t get any weirder.

“Yes, of course I am. How could I have brought both of you here if that wasn’t the case?”

“So that means that you were a warrior or a medicine cat before you died, right? Because of your name, I mean.”

“You are correct. I was an Iceclan warrior many moons before you were born.” He said to the still perplexed silver cat.

“And how did you die?” Silverpaw questioned curious.

Coldstream’s happy expression fell and formed a frown. “You shouldn’t really ask that kind of question to dead cats, Silverpaw. It can be traumatic to some.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry if I offended you in any way.” He apologized.

The other tom brushed it off. “Don’t worry, it wasn’t your intention.”

“I have more questions. Where are we and who was that other cat?”

“We are in one of the lands of Starclan, young one. Here we live in harmony, hunting prey, sleeping soundly under the stars, and sometimes we even deliver prophecies.” He clarified. “And that cat was your father, Silverpaw.”

“W-What!? That was my father!?” Silverpaw couldn’t believe his ears, he had been talking with his father, for Starclan’s sake!

“Yes, he is. As I’ve told you before, I’ve been watching you, and I thought it was very unfair that you didn’t get to meet him in any way, so I brought both of you here so you could talk with each other.”

“If it was my father then, and you brought him here so we could talk with each other, why couldn’t I fully see him or hear him correctly, or even just telling him my name?”

“Those are questions that I cannot answer for now. Consider yourself lucky that someone decided to lend you a helping paw.” He said. “Now, it’s your turn to leave. Goodbye, Silverpaw, until we meet again.” And with that, the tom walked into a denser part of the trees and disappeared between the trunks and bushes.

“Wait! I want to ask you more-!”

Silverpaw opened his eyes once again, but this time he was met with the sight of the walls of the apprentices’ den. He didn’t know for how long he’d been sleeping, but he assumed that it had been a very long time since the other three apprentices were soundly snoring each in their respective nest.

He tried to sleep once again, but soon found out that he was already fully awake and couldn’t do anything about it, so he quietly rose to his paws and exited the den to enter the bigger cave. 

He walked towards the entrance, watching as the sun was rising and bringing warmth with it. The soft warm wind made the tiny, green leaves on the trees move ever so slightly, signalling that Newleaf was just around the corner.

_ What should I do now? I can’t fall back to sleep and I don’t really have anything else to do either. _

His thoughts were interrupted once a familiar brown tabby she-cat appeared in front of him with some leaves in her mouth.

“Silverpaw? What are you doing here this early in the morning?” Finchsong asked.

“I couldn’t sleep.” He simply said, not wanting to tell her about his unordinary dream.

The medicine cat nodded. “So, as you have nothing else to do until everyone else wakes up, do you mind helping me find some herbs?”

“Sure thing, I have nothing else to do anyways.” He agreed, although he was a bit surprised because he had already picked plants with Acornpaw the last day, but decided to not say anything about it.

Both cats walked alongside each other, until they stopped when they were near Featherclan’s border.

“I need to find some borage and sweet-sedge, they usually grow around this stream or near lakes and rivers.” She explained.

“And how am I supposed to know what they look like? Acornpaw didn’t help at all last time.” He asked.

“Easy, here.” Finchsong grabbed a stem of a nearby plant and showed it to Silverpaw. “This is borage. It’s used to bring down fever as well as for helping breath and stomach aches. It’s easily distinguishable for it’s hairy leaves and distinct scent.” She cut a leaf and brought the small plant to Silverpaw’s nose so he could smell it.

After having shown Silverpaw how to find the herb, Finchsong walked over to a very tall and green plant. She pushed the thick stem down with her weight and the plant snapped, making it fall to the ground.

“This one is sweet-sedge. The sap is used to ease infections. As you can see, it’s very easy to find it, it’s long, green stem gives it away. This one also grows only around streams and rivers.”

“And how can I carry that? It’s huge!” Silverpaw exclaimed.

“Don’t worry, you only need to break it and we’ll grab it all later.” She told him. “Alright, you know what you have to do now. Call my name if you need anything!” And with that, she walked away to the right side of the stream.

Silverpaw began sniffing and analyzing every small herb that looked remotely similar to the borage that Finchsong had shown him. 

When he had a decent size bundle of hairy leaves in his mouth, he moved over to a group of sweet-sedges that were growing together and did as Finchsong had taught him: he pushed with his front paws down so the stem would snap and then move to the next one, until all of them were on the ground.

“If it’s only the sap she needs, I think this is enough.” He said to himself, and proceeded to go searching for Finchsong.

“Finchsong! I’ve gathered everything you told me!”

The light brown head of the medicine cat emerged from behind a batch of sweet-sedge. “Already? Dear Starclan that was fast!” She exclaimed, surprised. “Alright, let me see what you’ve got.”

Silverpaw dropped all the borage he carried in his mouth on the ground. Finchsong got down and sniffed the herbs, checking for any stray, unwanted plant. The apprentice felt his muscles tense, thinking that he had picked the wrong ones, until Finchsong reassured him. “These are all good! No need to be so nervous, it’s only the second time you collect herbs.”

Silverpaw sighed relieved.

“Well, I think that with yours and mine we’re done here!” The medicine cat said, picking the borage in her mouth and carrying all of it. “You go grab the sweet-sedge and bring it with me to the medicine cat den.” Her voice sounded muffled by the plants in her mouth, but loud enough that Siverpaw understood her.

He trotted over to the fallen plants on the ground.  _ And how can I grab all of them at once? _ All of a sudden, he had an idea. He cut a long but thin stem of sweet-sedge from a nearby one that he hadn’t snapped before and tied with it the rest of the stems. He picked the plants from the thin stem around them and carried them to where Finchsong was waiting for him.

Without needing to say a word, they both walked to the camp and carefully entered the medicine cat den until they were at the back.

Granateclaw and Acornpaw were both sleeping in their nests, curled up in a ball.

Finchsong left the borage on the ground, near the left wall of the cave where holes sheltered different plants so they wouldn’t go bad.

“You can leave the sweet-sedge here, Silverpaw. I’ll take care of organizing them.” She whispered. “Thank you so much for your help.”

“It was nothing.” Silverpaw answered, now free from the plants of his mouth. “I forgot to ask, how is Granateclaw doing?”

Finchsong’s face saddened. “Not too good. His wound from the gathering got infected and he’s got a very high fever. He’s also caught greencough and…” The medicine cat couldn't find her words for a moment. “We’re afraid he won’t make it for more than a day or two more.”

Silverpaw’s world shattered the instant he heard what Finchsong had said. He felt the same way as the night of the Gathering when Lightstar found out he had crossed Fogclan’s border.

“You are saying… He’s going to die because Lighstar scratched him the night of the Gathering?”

“Kind of, it’s a mix of the infection and him having greencough… I’m so sorry, Silverpaw.” She tried to comfort the apprentice.

  
_ So he’s dying because of  _ me _? _


	11. Chapter 9

Silverpaw ran outside with angry tears streaming down his face.   
It’s all my fault! He’s dying and it’s all my fault! And just because he decided to defend me in that Gathering, if only Lighstar hadn’t attacked him he would be better.  
He continued running through the forest until he was at a secluded place, away from the camp and away from all his insecurities and worries, from the thought of Granateclaw dying and just cried, hidden between the trees and bushes.  
“It’s not my fault, it’s not my fault, it’s not my fault…” He kept repeating to himself. “It’s Lightstar’s fault, it was him who attacked Granateclaw.” Silverpaw unsheathed his claws and scratched the ground, tearing the grass under his paw. “If only he hadn’t…”  
Silverpaw broke down again. He was angry at Lighstar and the illness, but mostly at himself. He was so immersed in his anger that he didn’t notice pawsteps approaching him. The white kittypet watched him at a considerable distance, fearing that he would attack her, but once she noticed in what state he was, she decided to get near him to try and console him.  
“Hey, are you alright over there?” She softly asked him, attempting to not scare him.  
Silverpaw raised his head and observed the fluffy she-cat. Once he realized who she was, he spoke.   
“It’s you. Go away! I don’t want anything to do with a kittypet!” He rose to his paws, his fur bristling and claws still unsheathed.  
The white cat took a few steps back, but didn’t attempt to run away.   
“I’m just here to help. I saw you crying and wanted to lend a paw in whatever way I can.” She said, her voice gentle but firm.   
Silverpaw thought for a moment and analyzed the situation. The she-cat was practically defenseless and didn’t oppose any harm to him. The stress and pressure got the best of him, so he plopped down to the grass again, sobbing.  
Once the she-cat knew it was safe for her to get near the apprentice she walked over and laid down next to him. She wrapped her tail around him.  
“Shh… Let it all out.” She whispered, trying to calm him down.  
“I-It’s just t-that…” Silverpaw stuttered between sobs.  
“Don’t worry, it’s okay to cry, I’m here.”  
The white cat kept talking to Silverpaw until he had completely relaxed and could speak correctly.  
“So now tell me, why were you crying?” She gently asked.  
“I just found out that someone very dear to me is dying and it’s all my fault.” He explained.  
“But how could you have done that? Did you attack him?”  
“No, but someone else did.”  
“But it wasn’t you right?” She reasoned.  
“...No.” Silverpaw said.  
“Did you poison his food?” The kittypet half joked.  
“N-No! I could never!” He exclaimed.  
“Then how is it your fault?”  
Silverpaw stopped to think for a moment. It isn’t my fault, it’s Lighstar’s!  
“I suppose you are right…” He finally gave in.  
“Then don’t worry about it, they’re probably going to live, you are worrying too much!”  
Silverpaw scoffed. “It’s funny hearing that coming from a kittypet like you. The only thing you do is eat and sleep all day, maybe go out into the woods once every moon.”  
The white cat frowned. “You might be surprised by how hard my life is, wild cat.”  
“That reminds me, what’s your name? I didn’t get it the other day.” Silverpaw asked, ignoring her statement.  
“I’m Shine, what’s yours?”  
“My name is Silverpaw, pleasure to meet you. And thank you for the help.” He said, rising again to his paws, ready to go back to camp. “I have to go, my clanmates are probably wondering where I am.”  
The cat named Shine did the same as Silverpaw. “Well, Silverpaw, it was nice talking to you. Who knows, maybe we could cross paths another day and chit chat a bit more?”  
Silverpaw let a small chuckle. “Rest assured that we’ll talk again. Goodbye!”  
“Bye!” They both parted ways, each one to their respective homes.  
It’s already morning, I should get back before anyone notices I’ve been gone.  
He ran as fast as he could, but when he made it to the cave, lots of cats were already awake. Once he entered, Yarrowpaw appeared out of nowhere.  
“Silverpaw! Where were you? You weren’t with us when we got up!” He asked, worried.  
“I needed to get some air…” Silverpaw responded.  
“Again? This is the second time in a span of just two days!” Smokepaw commented, laughing.  
“Granateclaw’s dying.” The silver cat simply told him.  
Smokepaw’s smirk fell as soon as he heard that. “O-Oh… I’m so sorry, I-I didn’t know.” The dark gray tom lowered his head, ashamed.  
“It’s alright, you didn’t mean it…” Silverpaw comforted him.  
The group of apprentices didn’t know what else to say. An uncomfortable silence fell upon them until Yarrowpaw’s mentor approached them. He noticed how quiet the apprentices were, but decided against saying anything.  
“We’re all going on a hunting patrol along with Rainmist.” Oakbreeze commented. “But I’ll understand if you want to spend some time alone, Silverpaw. Finchsong told me about Granateclaw.”  
Silverpaw thought for a moment before answering. “No, I think it would help me if I distracted myself for a while, at least until I fully swallow it.”  
“You know you don’t have to, right?” Now it was Juniperfoot who had spoken. The dark gray she-cat had sat just behind Oakbreeze when they were all talking.  
“I know, but I really want to get my mind off from all of this.”  
“Very well, we shall get going then. You can go fetch Rainmist if you want, Silverpaw. Yarrowpaw, you go wake Larkflight up, I think he might still be sleeping.” Oakbreeze told the two apprentices.  
Both of them nodded and walked to the warriors’ den together. When they were just outside the entrance, Yarrowpaw asked. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it, Silverpaw? I think it might do you some good to get it out of your chest.”  
“I’ll be fine. We can talk after patrol, if you really want to.” Silverpaw responded, just before entering the den.  
As Oakbreeze had told them, Larkflight was soundly asleep, while Rainmist was still resting but with her eyes half open.  
Silverpaw nudged the white she-cat with his paw, and gestured to her with his head to come out of the den. Meanwhile, Yarrowpaw loudly screamed at the top of his lands in Larkflight’s ears.  
“WAKE UP, LAZY MOUSE! WE’RE GOING ON A PATROL!”  
Sure enough, the tom jumped wide awake as he landed on four paws with a surprised, but amused expression on his face.  
“Dear Starclan, no need to scream!” Larkflight laughed.  
The four cats exited the den and camp, walking towards the rest of apprentices and mentors who were already waiting for them.  
Without saying a word, they all walked through the forest in front of the cave, a bit towards the Fogclan border.  
Once they reached a big enough place so they could all sit down comfortably, Oakbreeze began speaking. “So, as the last training session, we’ll all try hunting as Rainmist does, not guiding yourselves by your hearing but rather with your other senses.”  
Silverpaw began dozing off after he heard that last sentence. He could see Oakbreeze and the other mentors explaining how they should feel for vibrations on the ground or rustles of dry leaves, but didn’t manage to understand any of it, as if his body was there but his mind was in the clouds.  
Once he saw that the mentors had stopped talking, he finally focused.  
“So, you can all go and practice your hunting skills now! We’ll try watching what you are doing so we can correct you after the hunt, ok?” Juniperfoot said. “Then off you go!”  
Silverpaw watched the other three apprentices go to a different direction each, so he decided to do so as well. He walked a bit along the trees until he knew no one was near him to scare his prey away.  
He ignored all the things he heard, from the chirp of some happy birds to the sound of the wind ruffling some leaves on the ground. He slowly began taking small steps, trying not to make any sound he wasn’t aware of as he creeped through the bushes. It only took a few moments for him to see a mouse between the roots of a nearby tree, so he crouched down, calculating the distance between him and his prey.   
He tensed his muscles, ready to jump when suddenly, from out of nowhere, a cat pounced on the mouse and killed it with a swift blow.  
“Hey! That was my prey!” Silverpaw rose to his paws, angry at whoever had caught the mouse before him.  
When he lifted up his gaze, he noticed that the cat who was standing in front of him wasn’t any of his friends, nor clanmates for that matter.  
“Well, whoever catches it first gets it, right?” A black and white tom said, as he fled with the mouse dangling from his mouth.  
He crossed the Fogclan border, which again Silverpaw didn’t realize it was that close, and he ran to a group of cats who were waiting for him across the small stream.  
“That’s stealing!” Silverpaw shouted back, running close behind him but not daring to put a paw in Fogclan’s territory.  
“I don’t know why you Iceclan cats complain about it, you’re just a bunch of hypocrites!” The tom hissed.  
Silverpaw felt anger bubble up inside of him. “We have never stolen any prey from your territory!”  
“Oh yeah? And what about what happened last Gathering, do you want me to remember it for you?”  
The apprentice could vividly recall the events of that night, and his fur began to bristle. He struggled to keep his cool and felt like he would pounce on one of the Fogclan cats at any moment.  
“At least that stupid warrior got what he deserved, but personally, I would have ripped his ears off if I were Lightstar.”  
That was the last drop. Silverpaw couldn’t contain himself any longer. He ran across the stream, making his paws wet, pounced on the nearest cat of the Fogclan patrol and hung onto their pelt with his claws unsheathed.  
He couldn’t hear anything but his own heartbeat pounding in his ears. The strong warrior who was under Silverpaw’s attack was clearly too big for the apprentice, so they easily rolled over to their side and pinned Silverpaw to the ground, blood staining their white fur.  
Silverpaw felt dizzy again, and this time he could only make out a few shouting voices who he thought were of Oakbreeze and Yarrowpaw, but he still couldn’t distinguish them too well.  
All that had happened that morning in such a short time span made the apprentice’s vision blurry and his eyes fluttered shut as he felt his body being carried by someone on their back.

Ugh, why is everything dark? Silverpaw thought, trying to open his eyes. A small ray of light caused him to close them shut again. That’s too bright! My head hurts so much!  
The apprentice didn’t notice the two shadows that were near watching him.  
“He’s finally waking up…” One of them whispered.  
“Can you hear us?” The other asked him.  
“Y-Yeah…” Silverpaw answered softly.  
“Thank Starclan, we thought you were a goner for sure! Auch! No need to pinch me!” The first voice exclaimed, as they were probably reprimanded by their comment.  
Siverpaw decided that despite his growing headache he wanted to see where he was and who those cats talking to him were, so he slowly opened his eyelids, ignoring the blinding light of the den he was in. When he could finally fully open, he took in his surroundings.  
He was laying down on a moss nest, in what seemed to be a medicine cat den, judging by the herbs stored and the recognisable scent of plants that he could remember from Finchsong and Acornpaw’s cave. The walls of the den weren’t like the ones back in Iceclan camp, solid rock, but rather they were made with strong branches and different bushes and thorns.  
Silverpaw then analyzed who were talking to him just a moment earlier. In front of him were two cats, a big, light ginger tabby tom and a younger, but also ginger, tabby tom.  
“Hello, you might be wondering where you are, is that right?” The older cat asked Silverpaw.  
“Y-Yeah, I can’t really remember why I’m here, where am I or who both of you are.”  
The light ginger tom nodded. “My name is Amberflame, and this right here is my apprentice Dillpaw.” The small cat bounced and then smiled at Silverpaw. “We’re Fogclan’s medicine cats.”  
Wait, Fogclan? Silverpaw was astonished. That’s why I didn’t recognize anything! I’m not even at my own camp!  
Amberflame noticed Silverpaw's panicked expression. “Don’t worry, you just blacked out when you were fighting one of our patrols, or might I say one cat from the patrol, by yourself.”  
Memories flooded Silverpaw’s mind. He did remember now that the medicine cat had mentioned it. He could recall how a Fogclan warrior stole the mouse he was hunting and how he had made fun of Granateclaw. And then I attacked one of the cats from the patrol…   
Silverpaw was lost. He didn’t know what to say, if he should apologize or get angry at them for stealing one of Iceclan’s prey in purpose, but one thing he knew for certain is that he would make sure to tell Lighstar how much damaged a single blow had caused to his mentor.  
“When can I go home?” Silverpaw decided to ask.  
Amberflame and Dillpaw looked at each other with an unknowing expression.  
“We’re not really sure…” Amberflame answered. “I think I heard Lighstar say something about holding you hostage until that warrior from the other night apologized.”  
“WHAT!?” The silver apprentice shouted. “You cannot do that! It’s against the warrior code!”  
“Actually, it isn’t! I know all of the rules on the warrior code and none of them mentions it- Auch!” The apprentice was quickly silenced by his mentor pinching him again with the tip of his claw.  
“I think I taught you when to keep your mouth shut.” Amberflame lectured his apprentice.  
“Sorry…” Dillpaw said softly.  
“Hey! I heard some noise from inside and wanted to check if Silverpaw is awake already.” A familiar voice could be heard from the entrance of the den as a gray and black face peaked right through it.  
“Hello, Splitpaw!” Silverpaw was relieved that there was someone he knew in the camp, or at least that he had spoken to before. Maybe she can get me out of here?  
“We were so worried that you wouldn’t wake up! I’m glad you are okay!” She exclaimed, rubbing her muzzle against his fur.  
“Do you… know each other?” Amberflame asked awkwardly.  
“We talked and played tag last gathering.” Splitpaw explained.  
“Well, I’ll let you catch up. Come on, Dillpaw, we’ve got to fetch some herbs.”  
Both medicine cats exited their den, leaving Silverpaw and Splitpaw alone.  
“Soo… Amberflame told me that Lightstar was keeping me as a prisoner here, is that true?” He asked, slightly curious but with fear in his meow.  
Splitpaw’s eyes shimmered with “What!? Absolutely no! Dad would never do that! We just brought you here because you blacked out on our side of the border and our camp is way closer than yours anyway!”  
“W-Wait, Lightstar is your father?” Silverpaw asked, surprised, ignoring the reason for him being there completely.  
“Well, yeah, he is. Haven’t you noticed?”  
“That… That fox-hearted excuse for a leader is your father!?”  
“Wow, no need to be so rude.” Splitpaw told him, annoyed at his comment.  
“He attacked my mentor at a Gathering!”  
“If he would have kept his mouth shut and hadn’t disrespected a leader he wouldn’t have got that scratch.” She responded, defending his father.  
“He’s dying because of it!” Silverpaw shouted with a few angry tears in his eyes.  
Splitpaw’s expression changed from anger to compassion in a split moment. “I-Is that true?” She asked, her voice trembling.  
Silverpaw just nodded solemnly. “He caught an infection and green cough. Finchsong says he probably won’t make it. Gosh, I feel so useless…”  
“Why though?” Splitpaw said.  
“B-Because…” Silvepaw debated on whether to tell her the truth or not. “Because it wasn’t Granateclaw who crossed your border… It was me.”


End file.
